


The Sun

by Hey_Red101



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Inspired by some awesome art on IG
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26295076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hey_Red101/pseuds/Hey_Red101
Summary: There once was a girl who fell in love with the sun.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 76
Kudos: 310





	1. Chapter 1

_ There once was a girl who fell in love with the sun… _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She missed the light of day. Everything is bathed in a golden glow, bright and colorful and warm. She loved to feel it on her skin, couldn’t get enough of the yellow rays that would pierce through the trees, reflect off the ocean, come through her window, and make each day better than it was before. The worst part of everyday was the time when the sun set, gracing the world with brilliant hues of orange and purple before sinking below the horizon to rest through the night.

Amity heaved a sigh, casting another light spell to push back the darkness in her room. This was how it was every night, the world becomes void of light from the sun and the shadows have to be fought with light spells and lanterns. Many people simply dealt with the darkness this way and accepted that night was always going to be dark. Amity on the other hand loathed the dark, loathed what came with it, and wanted nothing to do with it.

It was this aversion to the dark that began her nightly ritual of casting light spells- dozens of them- to try and illuminate her room in just a fraction of the way the sun could. They could never match up. That was obvious really, a handful of small golden orbs floating all throughout her room would never be a suitable replacement for the ball of fire that awoke every morning.

A soft knock on the door to her room signified the arrival of another portion of her nighttime routine, not moving from her spot on her bed she gave a small “Come in” that saw her door quietly open. She didn’t take her gaze from the dancing lights to see who it was, she didn’t have to, her older brother and sister came by to check on her and wish her goodnight every night. It was something her parents never did.

“Hey Mittens,” That was Ed, using a softer voice than the one he usually used throughout the day.

“Putting up your lights like usual?” And there was Em, right by his side.

The two of them had stepped into the room in front of her bed and let the door close softly behind them, gazing at the lights that decorated Amity’s room. Amity finally tore her gaze from the lights to look at her siblings, taking in their small smiles. “Yeah,” She began, letting out a breath, “Can I ask you two something? And can you be honest about it?”

The twins shared a look, both surprised and worried at their little sister’s question, “Of course,” Em began, “Whatever you need Mittens.” Ed finished. Taking a seat on either side of her on the bed and fixing her with concerned looks.

Amity rubbed her shoulder self consciously, thinking of how to begin her question. “Do you two think,” She paused, looking up to her sister’s gaze and just as quickly staring down at her boots, “Do you think that all of this-” She gestured to the lights around her room, “-is childish? Because I know Mom and Dad would disapprove of it if they saw it, and I know you two don’t need this much light to sleep, and- and I don’t think anyone else in the Boiling Isles has to go this far, and, and I-” She stopped, feeling the telltale pinprick of tears in her eyes as she hung her head even lower. “I don’t know.”

The twins were silent for a beat, sharing a look behind Amity that she couldn’t see. Ed placed a hand on her shoulder, “Amity, I know we like to tease you and I know that we annoy you, but we care about you. A lot. We’re here for you no matter what Mom, Dad, or anyone else in the Boiling Isles thinks.”

Em put her arm around Amity, pulling her close. “He’s right. And besides, you shouldn’t worry about what they all think.” She pulled back a little to look Amity in the eye, “Do you like the lights?”

Amity sniffled, now crying in earnest, as she could only nod her head in response.

Em pulled the three of them in for another hug, “Then I don’t see why you shouldn’t keep them.”

The group sat there for longer than they cared to keep track of, the twins comforting their younger sister while she cried between them, enjoying the warmth of each other's company and the solace offered by her two older siblings. The room was silent other than the soft hiccups and sniffles from the youngest Blight. The three only pulled apart when the two twins were certain that their baby sister was feeling better, and only stood up to leave when she yawned and softly mumbled that she should get some sleep. 

“Get some rest Amity, we’ll be here for you if you want us when you wake up.”

“Yeah, we’ll always be here for you.” Ed ruffled Amity’s hair as he spoke. As the twins moved towards the door they stopped, looking at each other before turning back to face Amity and- in sync- each drawing a circle in the air in front of them. Once they finished two forest green lights floated in front of them before they each pushed theirs to gently float to the center of the room. They cast a soft green light on their surroundings, mingling with the soft golden glow provided by Amity’s light spells.

“Good night Mittens.” Edric opened the door for his sister and himself, giving Amity a sincere smile.

“We will  _ never  _ judge you for your lights. Remember that.” Emira spoke softly before turning to step into the hallway.

“She’s right you know.” Edric turned to walk out before pausing and looking at Amity over his shoulder, “It’s a shame you can’t hold the sun in your hand.” He said quietly before shutting the door.

_ Yeah, _ Amity thought, mind already fuzzy with sleep, _if only_.


	2. Chapter 2

Amity awoke feeling more rested than usual. She hadn’t had any strange dreams or nightmares and for once her anxiety hadn’t kept her up for hours on end. She rolled onto her back and opened her eyes, blinking away the bleariness before sitting up and stretching.

She slowly looked around and saw the faded- but still present- light spells from the night before floating throughout her room. All of the light spells Amity had made were dull and tired looking. However, the ones that Edric and Emira had created for her still glowed strongly, seemingly unaffected. A soft smile spread across her face. She thought she might have dreamt the conversation she had with them, but the glowing green lights proved otherwise. She cupped the green lights in her hands before shuffling to her window. 

The sun still hadn’t come up. Something had woken her up before dawn,  _ ‘What woke me up so early?’ _ She thought. She never woke up at this time, no one in the house did. Everyone tended to wake up right as the sun rose. She sighed, now that she was up she knew she’d be unable to go back to sleep.

She let her gaze wander through the window, taking in the dark landscape outside Blight manor. Everything was in shadow so it wasn’t like she could see much, but her attention was drawn to something among the trees that surrounded their estate. It looked like there were trees burning! Had a fire started somehow?! What should she do?

Edric and Emira. She had to get Edric and Emira, they would know what to do!

She threw her jacket over her pajamas and pulled on her boots as she stumbled into the hallway. Her frantic footsteps carried her to their door where she knocked, hopefully loud enough for them to hear. 

The door opened to a concerned Edric almost immediately- Emira was right behind him- looking like he’d been woken up. “Mittens?” 

“What time is it?” Emira asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Her eyes widened upon seeing her sister’s face, “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a fire in the woods,” She blurted out, “We need to do something!” 

The twins looked at each other and Amity knew they were thinking the same as her. If mother and father got back from their business trip and saw that anything had happened to the manor, they’d all be punished. Severely. 

“Let us get our boots on, then we’ll head out.”

The three siblings were leaving through the front door less than a minute later, moving with purpose across the pristine lawn between the house and the woods. 

As they neared the treeline the light that caused all of this became clear. The flickering light was further in than Amity first thought, but that didn’t change anything. They had to put it out.

“Alright Amity,” That was Emira coming up on Amity’s right, “Be careful when we go in there. As good as you are with magic, Ed and I both have more experience than you do so follow our lead.”

“Yeah, and make sure to keep those light spells with you. It’ll be easier to find you if we get separated as long as you have them.” Edric added.

Amity nodded along, too focused on the treeline to really hear what they were saying.She paused,  _ ‘Wait, light spells?’ _ looking to each shoulder she saw that there were indeed two light spells following her. The ones the twins had made. She must’ve brought them with her in her rush to get to her siblings.

Without any more words exchanged the trio set out into the woods, eager to put out the fire before it caused any lasting damage.

After a few minutes of stepping over dark tree roots and avoiding low hanging branches they all came to the realisation that something was…  _ off. _ “Is it just me or are we not getting any closer to the fire?” And Ed was the first to vocalise what they were all feeling.

“Yeah”

“It looks like it.”

Emira and Amity agreed at the same time. Now that the three weren’t moving they took a moment to watch the light through the trees- which was definitely moving- and glance at each other. What did they do now?

“Do we follow it?”

“What if it’s dangerous Edric?” Emira countered.

“Then that’s a good reason to get rid of it! We can’t just leave something dangerous right outside our house!” Edric’s posture was rigid and his face was serious, a far cry from the smirk he usually wore. 

Looking from Edric to Emira showed that she was wearing the same expression. That scared Amity more than she’d ever admit.

Emira’s frown worsened, as she looked back into the woods. “Fine,” She grumbled, “But if it’s something we can’t handle we leave  _ immediately _ .” 

Edric’s nod was his only response. 

The trio set off at a faster pace than before, trying to catch up to whatever was making the light. Amity was zeroed in on the light in the distance as tree roots and branches whipped past her. The light was getting closer and closer with every step they took- Edric and Emira were only a few steps ahead of her- and Amity was puffing with the exertion. Her siblings were slowly pulling ahead of her- curse her short legs- she tried running to catch up before she lost sight of them.

Her foot caught something. She went sprawling into the dirt.

Groaning and taking deep breaths, Amity tried standing. She checked her hands and knees, some scrapes and dirt but nothing major. With her hand on the tree next to her she pushed herself the rest of way up- and  _ oh Titan that hurt _ . Her ankle. She’d twisted her ankle when she fell. After putting her back to the tree and sitting down again, she prodded her ankle with a tentative finger, and she couldn’t help the gasp of pain that left her mouth.

Pulling her pant leg up and looking at her ankle showed that it was already red and swelling- and it would probably only get worse. The back of her head thudded against the tree. 

_ What did she do now? _ She was in the woods chasing something- she didn’t even know  _ what _ \- with Edric and Emira.

Her body jolted forward- Edric and Emira! They were with her! She looked all around, and saw nothing. She didn’t hear anything either.  _ No… _ “ _ Edric _ !” She yelled, “ _ Emira!” _ Her voice was hoarse. She could feel pinpricks of tears at the corner of her eyes and her throat getting tight. She yelled for her siblings again. Still no response.

Her head fell between her knees-  _ what should she do!?  _ Her siblings must not have heard her fall and kept running, they didn’t know she was hurt, didn’t know she wasn’t with them- no one knew where she was! They hadn’t been keeping track of how far they’d gone- Amity couldn’t see the lights from Blight manor and all she had to provide light were the twins’ light spells. She sniffled. Could things get any worse for her? 

Something snapped in the woods. 

Amity’s head whipped to the side where she heard the sound- had she actually heard anything? Was it just her imagination? 

Something else snapped, and Amity saw a light getting closer through the trees.  _ Was it Edric and Emira? _ Hope soared in her chest as she hobbled to her feet- eager to see her siblings again. “Hey! I’m over here- I thought you kept going!” Amity waved her arm, hoping to get their attention, “I’m over… here…” The words trailed off. Her voice had died in her throat.

It wasn’t Ed or Em coming through the trees. Amity could see that now. She felt herself fall back to her knees.

The thing was coming closer, Amity could make out parts of it between the tree trunks. The whole thing radiated light- like fire.  _ Was it on fire? _ It stepped out from behind the nearest tree- she gasped. It was an equal mix of fear and shock.

The thing was right there, right in front of her as it looked  _ right at Amity. _ No no what should she do?! She forced herself to her feet ready to run- and had her foot collapse underneath her. Her heart was racing, she turned herself onto her back and used her arms and good leg to scoot away from the approaching threat- her back made contact with something. She turned- she’d backed herself into a tree! Her head turned sharply to look back in front of her, at the flaming thing was getting closer. She could feel the heat coming off of it getting warmer and warmer. She squeezed her eyes shut.

She waited. Nothing happened. The heat had stopped coming closer. 

Slowly- ever so slowly- she opened her eyes again. The thing had stopped a few feet away from her. It had its arms ( _ were they arms? They looked like arms) _ in front of it placatingly. Its mouth was moving- it was talking to her- what was it saying? She could hardly hear it over her racing pulse. 

“-s okay, it’s okay,” It soothed, “I’m not gonna hurt you, I’m sorry for scaring you. I must’ve scared you a lot right?”

Amity was shaking, was it waiting for a response? It looked like it. She shakily nodded her head. 

“Yeah, I thought so. I’m really sorry about that,” It- she?- responded, “What’s your name? You can call me Luz.”

Amity wasn’t sure she had blinked the whole time she- Luz- had been talking. “A-” She gulped, “Amity. I’m- I’m Amity.” 

Luz nodded, “Alright. Amity. Are you okay? It looked like you hurt your leg.” After seeing a nod from Amity she continued, “Can I look at it? I might be able to help.”

Amity took a deep breath, thinking hard. Should she let this Luz person help her? She’s had plenty of time to hurt her and she hadn’t yet. And her ankle was  _ really  _ starting to hurt now that the adrenaline was wearing off. She offered a small nod.

The other girl(?) stepped forward slowly- not wanting to startle Amity any further. “You hurt your leg right? Can you tell me what hurts?” She was now only a foot away from where Amity was curled against the tree.

“My ankle.” 

“Can I see it?”

With a soft nod Amity slowly uncurled her left leg towards Luz. “What- what are you?” She whispered.

Luz crouched down by her ankle, “Well I’m Luz! But I said that already- can I roll up your pant leg and take off your boot?” After seeing Amity softly nod she continued, “Well I don’t think you’ll believe me!” she clearly saw Amity’s confused expression, “I’ll tell you later, promise.” Amity’s boot was off now and her pant leg was rolled up half way up her calf. “Alright, I’m going to touch your ankle, are you ready? It might sting a bit.” 

Shaking off her confusion for a second Amity braced herself for the sting, “Go ahead. Try to be carefuullll- ohhh  _ Titan _ .” She wasn’t expecting that. She was ready for the sharp pain that initially flared up, but she wasn’t ready for the warm, soothing heat that flooded her body and left her breathless. “Ugghh, wha- what was that?”

Luz smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, I should have warned you about that. That’s my magic, it should be helping to dull the pain? Is it working?”

Amity sighed and nodded again. If felt like a heating pad, except a thousand times better.

“That’s great!” Silence followed her statement, and the two just basked in it for a moment. The two were examining each other- Luz with excited eyes and Amity with exhausted ones. That is until a look crossed Luz’s face. “Oh shoot. Hey are you out here with anyone? Anyone who can help you back home?”

“Yeah, yeah. My brother and sister are out here-” she paused to glance around Luz, “Somewhere. They’re supposed to be looking for my lights.” She gestured to the two green light spells- which were still burning bright amazingly enough.

“Oh? Your siblings made these?” That excitement was back on her face along with curiosity, “That’s so cool! I didn’t know witches could do magic like this!” Luz shook her head, “Sorry got distracted, can I see one of them? I think I can help get your siblings over here.”

Reluctantly Amity passed a light over to the flaming girl seeing her take it in both hands softly- almost reverently. Slowly Luz raised the light above her head and closed her eyes before a flash of light almost blinded Amity. Squinting and peering through her fingers Amity saw that the light spell was glowing like a miniature green sun- and just as soon as it had appeared it returned to normal.

“Wha- how did you do that?” 

“I’ll answer your question if you answer mine. Deal?”

Amity nodded, still in awe of what she just saw.

A great big grin spread across the other girl’s face, “Great! I’ll be here again tomorrow night! If you want to talk just find me.”

As Luz turned to walk away Amity reached out with her hand, “But- how am I going to find you?”

Luz turned over her shoulder with a smile and winked at Amity, “Just follow the light silly!” 

Then she was gone. She didn’t walk off into the trees or run away- she just disappeared right in front of Amity as the sun began to rise and paint the sky with the colors of dawn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. So. I'm finally updating another one of my fics, and I'd like to first say sorry to anyone who was waiting for another chapter (if there was anyone waiting for another chapter) because I am very bad at working consistently on projects like this. That being said I am going to try and update this fic every week, hopefully every Tuesday.
> 
> With that out of the way, comments are always appreciated! I had this chapter finished awhile ago but I wasn't happy with it so I gutted it and redid it, and now it's the longest chapter I've ever written. Once again I don't have a beta reader yada yada I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Stay safe everyone


	3. Chapter 3

“Edric.”

No response.

_ “Edric.” _

Nothing.

Emira grumbled- of course he wasn’t paying attention, “ _ EDRIC!” _

_ SMACK _

“Wha- What?!” He rubbed the back of his head, “I’m listening, I’m listening! Jeez”

She couldn’t help but shake her head, her brother was ridiculous. “You were listening huh?” She put her hands on her hips- Edric nodded, “So what did I just say?” His mouth opened. And closed. And opened again before he looked away, grumbling under his breath. 

“Mmhmm, that’s what I thought.” She sighed, wondering why this guy had to be her twin brother, “I was asking what you think happened to Mittens.”

“She sprained her ankle what do you mean?” He paused, a thoughtful look coming over his face, “I guess she has been kinda weird now that you mention it.”

So Ed had noticed it too! “Yeah! I mean why won’t she tell us what happened?” Amity hadn’t told them what had happened after she got separated from them in the woods. When they’d found her slumped against a tree, they’d feared the worst- maybe they had been too late, maybe whatever they had been following had found her first. But Amity had just been dazed and tired- they couldn’t blame her really- and had a sprained ankle too. They’d had to almost carry her between the two of them- one arm over each of their shoulders. Amity had regained her focus while on the way back, but she’d clammed up after they asked what happened after she sprained her ankle. ‘ _ Nothing had happened’ _ She’d said. They both knew she was lying- Amity was a terrible liar.

But Amity had just gone through something pretty frightening so they stopped bothering her about it. For awhile. But now- a few hours later- they were getting impatient.  _ Something _ had been in those woods, and Amity had seen  _ something _ that had shaken her up. Were the two one in the same? They didn’t know, and only Amity could tell them. And they also had to figure out if whatever Amity had seen had hurt her in any way.

They had to figure out what happened to Amity. “You have an idea don’t you?” Edric asked, seeing the thoughtful look on his sister’s face. Emira nodded, walking past her brother and out of the room- hearing him follow behind her once she reached the stairs. They stopped once they reached their destination, Emira lifting her hand to knock on the door in front of her.

They heard shuffling from the other side, “What do you want?”

Taking that as her cue, Emira opened the door for the two twins to sweep into the room, “Oh Mittens, is that any way to thank your siblings for carrying you home?” She smirked, Amity was already getting annoyed- and they’d only just walked in the room!

“Yeah, I mean we didn’t have to carry you all the way back,” Edric leaned on his sister’s shoulder, “Did we Em?”

She grinned at Amity, “That’s right Ed! Honestly Amity, you can really hurt our feelings sometimes.”

Their little sister looked away, looking at least a little guilty.  _ Perfect. _ “I’m sorry, today’s just been pretty stressful,” She sighed and looked back at her older sister, “Thank you for helping me back, and for helping me with my ankle.”

Emira leaned forward placing her hand on Amity’s shoulder, “Oh it’s fine Mittens, I mean what kind of siblings would we be if we just left you there with something dangerous lurking around?” She glanced around Amity for a split second, seeing the dark cover of her diary half hidden under her pillow.  _ There it is _ . She shot a glance to Edric- he saw it too.

Edric stepped around Emira, leaning down to Amity’s height- before snatching the diary out from under the pillow and holding it above his head. 

“Hey!” Amity was angry now, “Give that back!”

Ed stepped away from the bed, raising the book even higher, “Now now Mittens, there’s no need to be so angry.”

“Yeah Amity, we just want to know what happened in the woods- and you write  _ everything  _ in here,” Emira gestured to the book, “Don’t you?”

Their little sister looked between the two of them before crossing her arms tightly over her chest, “Of course you two just want to embarrass me,” She grumbled, “It’s not like you two actually care.”

_ Ouch. _ Emira thought,  _ Well that stings. _ “Oh we care Mittens, but you haven’t told us anything yet even though we asked you a bunch of times.”

Amity stood up from the bed- snatching the book from Ed’s fingers with a small jump. “Well maybe you should have tried asking nicer!” She pressed the book tightly under her arm, “Or better yet- you could just leave me alone!”

Edric and Emira both looked at Amity- shock evident on their faces. She just  _ jumped _ . To take the book from the Ed, she had  _ jumped _ . On her sprained ankle. 

Amity had clearly seen their expressions, and she looked confused. “Uh, what?” She asked after a few moments of awkward silence, “Is something wrong?”

“Can we see your ankle?” 

Amity looked taken aback- she wasn’t expecting that, clearly. “Um, uh sure?” She slowly sat back on her bed making sure to place the diary far out of the twins’ reach. Looking between the two she raised her leg so the twins could see it.

Emira knelt down and pulled Amity’s sock out of the way so she could see her ankle- which was…  _ fine? _ Her ankle had been hurt badly enough where they’d had to  _ carry  _ her, and now- just a few hours later- it looked fine! 

“Wow Mittens,” Ed whistled, “When did you learn a healing spell? I’m surprised that you’d try and multitrack, I’m impressed!”

“I don’t know? Any healing spells?” Amity said, unsure of what he was talking about.

“You don’t? Then how’s your foot healed so quick?”

Amity shrugged, looking off to the side.

Emira looked from her brother to her younger sister, noting the blush on their younger sibling’s face, “Oooh,” Emira’s face lit up, “ _You_ didn’t heal your ankle, but _someone else_ _did_ didn’t they?” Amity’s blush only worsened, she was right!

Edric grinned at this new revelation, “Aww does Mittens have herself a friend in the healing track?”

“Did you two have a secret meeting in the woods?” Emira clutched her hands in front of her face, fluttering her eyelashes and gasping dramatically.

“Are they your knight in shining armor?” Edric struck a dramatic pose, “Saving our adorable princess of a sister?”

The teasing continued- with Amity’s face getting redder and redder with every joke, “Yes! Someone found me and used a healing spell on my leg!” She exploded, throwing her arms up in frustration, “ _ She even- _ ” Amity cut herself off. Her mouth opened and closed before she looked away again- refusing to meet their eyes.

The twins looked at each other, not saying anything for a moment- before wide grins broke out on both of their faces “ _ Ooh, our sister has a girlfriend! _ ” The two twins crowed in sync, repeating it as they looked from each other to their younger sister. 

Amity’s face was red-  _ very  _ red. “It’s not-” The twins cut her off with their continued chanting, “She’s-” Amity couldn’t get a word in edgewise, “AGH!  _ ABOMINATION- _ ” 

_ Uh oh _ . Edric and Emira froze.

_ “RISE!” _

The two twins were grabbed before they could move away from the purple monstrosity- one twin in each torso sized fist. They tried pleading with their baby sister, but it was no use. She was  _ livid _ . The two were thrown- quite literally- out into the hallway. Emira landed on Edric and looked up in time to see Amity slam the door in her face. She flinched. 

“Oww, did she really have to throw us that hard?” Edric was rubbing the back of his head- complaining that he probably had a concussion.

Emira rolled her eyes, “Oh please, this isn’t any worse than what she usually does,” She stood, brushing off non existent dust.

“Hey!” Ed pointed a finger at her, “You’re not the one who had a  _ person _ land on you! And you smacked me earlier!”

“You’re still complaining about that? Grow up,” The two started off down the hallway, “Anyway that doesn’t matter right now- we have something more important to do.”

Ed muttered under his breath before shaking his head and grinning, “You mean finding out who Mittens’ friend is?”

“ _ Exactly _ .”

~~~~~~~~~~

Amity double checked her boots, making sure they were tied and laced up properly. She checked her jacket, fiddling with the buttons and cuffs. She looked out the window. She sighed- she was stalling, and she knew it.  _ “Look for the light” _ The other girl had said. Well Amity  _ was  _ looking for the light- and she couldn’t see it! The sun was going down and she still hadn’t seen anything through her window to indicate the other girl was in the woods. 

_ Maybe she’d forgotten? Or lied to her? _

Amity growled, she was getting tired of waiting. She didn’t want to leave with the sun so close to going down, but she also felt the need to get out of the house. She couldn’t believe Edric and Emira- using her injury so they could make fun of her. Standing from her perch on the window sill she made her way into the hallway. She shut the door softly behind her- she didn’t want the twins to hear her leave. “I’ll wait in the woods until it gets dark,” She muttered, “Maybe I just can’t see her from my room.” The large, ornate front door of the Blight household loomed in front of her. She took a deep breath.  _ Now or never _ . The door creaked as she pushed it open and creaked as she closed it.

The cold air bit at her exposed cheeks and nose as she traversed across the grounds and into the woods. She’d always hated autumn: the days got shorter while the nights got longer. The colder weather didn’t help either. 

She looked around her, she was back where she’d first seen Luz.  _ How had she gotten back here? _ She hadn’t meant to come this far into the woods. She’d just been walking aimlessly. Her heart started beating faster in her chest- what if she couldn’t find her way home? No. No, she couldn’t think like that- it would just cause her to panic. She had to stay calm, the sun was almost down- she summoned a light spell when she realized this- and once it went down she would go back home if the other girl didn’t show.

So she waited. And waited. What felt like an eternity was probably only twenty minutes or so. She could feel the temperature drop as the sun dropped lower and lower. She should be able to see the light Luz talked about by now. 

The sun finally dipped below the horizon. Her light spell was the only thing allowing her to see right now. Luz wasn’t coming. Amity sighed, it was time to start heading home now she supposed. She turned on her heel and-

“Hi there!”

Amity jumped- no  _ threw _ \- herself back. Her back hit the ground with a thud. She groaned. That  _ hurt. _

“Oh I’m sorry! I probably should’ve said something to get your attention, but I didn’t think of that and I’m sorry- oh I said that already didn’t I?” She leaned down and extended her hand to Amity. “Sorry again.”

Amity looked at the hand offered to her, it was on fire. 

Luz seemed to hear her thoughts, or she read her skeptical expression, “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt.” She crossed her finger over her heart, “Promise.” 

Slowly Amity rested her hand in Luz’s, happy to find that it was pleasantly warm and not burning hot. Allowing herself to be raised up she took in the girl in front of her. She looked surprisingly  _ normal _ all things considered. She was only an inch or so taller than Amity, she had normal arms and legs, and her face was like that of a witch. The only things that were truly strange about her were her rounded ears- at least they  _ looked  _ round from what she could tell- and the fact that little wisps of flame and sparks came off her short hair.  _ Was it hair? _ It was hard to tell.

“I don’t have hair like you do,” Oh titan had Amity said that out loud, “But I can control how it looks! Watch-” the girl in front of her screwed up her face a second while her hair changed from the short style it was to look longer with strands coming down in front of her ears that framed her face. “See? Pretty cool right?” She asked before changing it back.

“Uh huh.”  _ Right. _ “Um, it’s nice to see you again? I almost thought you weren’t going to show up.”

Luz rubbed the back of her neck and smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, sorry about that- I was kinda busy? I mean I’m not anymore and that’s why I’m here. Obviously.”

_ She really did ramble a lot didn’t she? _ It was kind of endearing Amity thought. “So. You said we could talk? I mean you said you would answer my question if I could answer yours.” She didn’t know where exactly she was going with this, she had so many questions that it felt like it would take all night just to get half of them answered. And she also didn’t know what sort of questions Luz would be asking- she hoped she could answer them.

“Ooh! That’s right!” Luz was bouncing on the balls of her feet, “I have so many questions for you! I hope you’re alright with that because I don’t want to keep you for too long, and I know most witches are asleep right now.” 

Amity couldn’t believe she was scared of this girl the first time she saw her, she was like a puppy! Or a young child maybe. Honestly, Luz’s enthusiasm was infectious as Amity was starting to get excited as well. She seemed to ooze enthusiasm and curiosity. “It’s fine, I have a lot of questions for you too.” Slowly Amity could feel the tension leaving her shoulders, “Do you want to ask the first one?” She gave a tentative smile.

Luz gasped and smiled even wider, “Ooh! Can I really!? Ok,” She paused to take a breath, “How do witches do magic, like I know you can do spells and stuff but it seems so different from my magic- do you guys have to learn it or are you born being able to do it-” 

Amity raised a hand for Luz to slow down, “One at a time, I can only process so much at once.” She giggled upon seeing Luz deflate a little, “Ok, so witches are able to do magic because of a special organ attached to our hearts,” Luz nodded along, enthralled by what she was hearing, “And spells and spell circles are our way of channeling and using that magic for different purposes.” 

They spoke for hours on end- one asking a question and the other answering as best they could only for the other to come up with a question of their own. It was the most fun Amity could remember having in ages. Even though it was night time, even though it was pitch black- except for Luz and her light spell- Amity found that she didn’t mind the dark. Not with Luz right in front of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I don't need to tell you guys that I don't have a beta reader because I've said it so often, but I just like talking to you guys in all honesty.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter, stay safe, and have a good day!


	4. Chapter 4

Amity felt like she was walking on clouds the whole way home. Never before had she felt so comfortable with someone- let alone someone she’d just met! 

She’d never even felt like that with her siblings. She loved her brother. She loved her sister. But those kinds of interactions almost never happened with her siblings. There were exceptions of course, like the night before where the two had comforted her and assuaged her fears, but those moments were rare and usually only came when their parents were out of the house for long periods of time. Or when one of them needed support that the other two could help with.

She could feel the warmth of the rising sun slowly drive away the chill that had been present all throughout the night. Amity relished the heat, and looked to the sun deep in thought. Her and Luz had spent the whole night out in the woods going back and forth with questions- until it was getting close to dawn and Amity asked the question that she wanted the answer to the most.

_ “Well, I do have a question that I’d really like to know the answer to. If- if you’re alright with it that is!” Amity was quiet, and more nervous than she’d been that whole night. She only continued with her question after Luz offered her multiple reassurances and promises that she was fine with any question the witch could ask. “Ok,” She exhaled. Her palms were sweaty. _

_ “What are you?” _

_ Amity had expected Luz to be defensive, to get angry at her prying. But… She didn’t. No, Luz just smiled even wider than before- something that confused Amity but put her at ease at the same time.  _

_ “I’m the sun.” She had said, as if that explained everything. That brilliant smile was still on her face. She must have noticed the expression on Amity’s face- equal parts confusion and skepticism- because she began to elaborate, “Well it’s kind of hard to explain. Let me think,” Her expression changed to one of deep thought, “So you know what ghosts are right? I’m like them except instead of being the spirit of a dead person, I’m the spirit of the sun!” _

_ The spirit of the sun. Amity didn’t know what to make of that. It sounded too outlandish to be true, but Luz had seemed perfectly genuine when she’d said it. Was she lying? Amity wasn’t sure, so she asked more questions- what did that it mean to be the spirit of the sun, what was it like, and why was she down here and not in the sky?  _

_ And Luz answered every one, no longer asking questions of her own. It seemed she was happy just to answer Amity’s many inquiries. _

Amity came to a stop, pulling herself out of her memories as she looked at the front door of the manor. When she left the house the sun was about to set, and now the sun was rising. Amity shook her head before opening the door. She’d spent all night with Luz. 

She yawned. It suddenly hit her that she was  _ exhausted.  _ It wasn’t surprising, she’d gone the whole night without any rest. She hoped Ed and Em were still asleep, she didn’t want to deal with them the way she was now. She plodded up the stairs- not even trying to be quiet- just wanting to get to her bed as quick as possible. 

And if she missed the golden eyes watching her, well, who could blame her?

~~~~~~~~~~

_ What was that sound? _

_ It was soft- almost inaudible- but unmistakably there. It was familiar in a way, Amity knew that she’d heard it before. It was on the tip of her tongue. _

_ So why couldn’t she name it? _

_ Her eyes opened slowly, taking in her surroundings. There were none. She was floating, alone, in a dark void devoid of light. This was familiar as well, a nightmare she’d had countless times before- alone and afraid in her own personal hell where she  _ knew _ things lurked in the dark around her. Even if she couldn’t see nor hear them.  _

_ It always terrified her. _

_ So why didn’t she feel fear? _

_ She turned her head, taking in her minimal surroundings. The things in the dark were still there. She was certain. And yet they kept their distance, not coming near Amity as they had before- and they were quieter this time. Not silent but… Muffled? Distant? It was hard to name.  _

_ She turned her gaze upon herself taking in her appearance. She was in the clothes she’d fallen asleep in- another constant of these nightmares. However, something was different. There was a soft glow around her, encompassing her small frame. The light was calming, she knew it would keep her safe somehow. She didn’t know how she knew this, but was certain it was true.  _

_ The things in the dark were wary of the light. They didn’t want to come closer. Or perhaps they couldn’t- it didn’t matter to Amity. _

_ But then there was that sound again, that soft, familiar noise that she was unable to place. She had to figure out what it was- maybe it would tell her what this light was. Her eyes slipped shut again, mind working to figure out this puzzle. It felt as if her brain was slogging through water it was so sluggish.  _

_ Then she felt the warmth. The final piece she needed. Her thoughts burst out from the marsh that had slowed them. _

_ Fire. _

_ The sound was  _ fire. __

_ It was flame and sparks and flickering light. It was heat and warmth and comfort all rolled into a soft crackling sound. She loved it. _

_ But where was it coming from?  _

_ Her eyes slipped open, once again looking around her- she knew it had to be near. There was nothing in the dark that could be doing this. First she looked ahead of her- empty. Then she looked behind her- nothing. Above, below, on either side of her- all void of anything that could be doing this.  _

_ Her gaze fell to herself. Her hands held nothing. Her back and front didn’t have any clues either. But when she looked to her legs, she found what she was looking for.  _

_ A yellow- orange glow seemed to be coming from beneath her skin and illuminating her surroundings. The glow started just below her left knee and extended all the way to her foot- it was warm too. She pulled her leg closer to her, examining it as best she could. It seemed the focal point of the light and the warmth was her ankle. _

_ Her hand seemed to move on its own, getting closer to her leg without Amity telling it to. Her fingertips brushed against it. _

_ And everything disappeared. _

Amity opened her eyes to the ceiling above her bed- memories of the dream running through her head.  _ That was strange. _ Never before had that dream been different than what it was the first time she’d had it. She knew the change was related to Luz somehow- but how exactly she wasn’t sure. It couldn’t be a coincidence. The light, the warmth, her  _ ankle _ . There was a connection there.

Her thoughts were running rampant, trying their best to figure out the situation she found herself in. Amity laid there for what felt like forever, but what was actually only a handful of minutes before her thoughts were interrupted by a loud growl from her stomach. She hadn’t eaten since last night.

_ What time was it now? _ She looked to the clock on her bedside table- it was noon. She’d come back right after dawn and fallen asleep as soon as she’d gotten home. After dragging herself out of bed and stretching she made her way to the door. She stopped at the top of the stairs.

She could hear Emira and Edric downstairs- the two were always louder than usual whenever mother and father were out of the house, but this was ridiculous. Descending down the staircase only brought their voices closer,  _ It sounds like they’re in the kitchen, _ Amity thought to herself. It smelled like something was cooking. That just made her stomach rumble even more. She sighed- she’d rather avoid her siblings, but she was  _ starving _ . 

Her body moved to the doorway of the kitchen and she looked in, not quite entering the room. There she saw Edric and Emira. The former stood at the stove, flipping pancakes with a natural flair only he could pull off. The latter was leaning against the counter next to a stack of empty plates- obviously waiting for the food to be finished. They were both relaxed. At ease. It was a scene that Amity had never seen before- the twins together without the influence of anyone else. She didn’t want to interrupt the scene, but she knew she couldn’t stand there forever.

Two sets of golden eyes locked on her as she stepped through the door, yawning loudly to gain their attention. “Oh hey Mittens!”

“Want some pancakes?”

Amity just nodded in response to the question, watching as Emira passed a plate to Edric from a stack of three. Edric then put three perfect pancakes onto the plate before holding it out to Amity. She took the plate from Ed and a fork from Em, thanking them both in turn. The two twins started a new conversation while Amity sat and ate, going back and forth before turning their attention to their baby sister. 

Edric spoke without turning from the stove, “You really slept in huh Mittens?” His voice was lighthearted, curious. “I mean, I can’t really talk. I only woke up like an hour ago.”

“Yeah,” Emira chimed in, “When did you end up going to bed? You’re always the early bird who never lets us reasonable witches sleep in.”

Amity looked between her siblings before answering, “I, uh, went to sleep really late. I also forgot to set my alarm before I went to bed.”  _ Not a lie.  _

Edric flipped another pancake onto Emira’s plate, “Wow, you must’ve been really tired- I can’t remember a time where you’ve done that before.”

“I don’t know how the two of you can stand alarm clocks- they’re so  _ annoying _ . I mean, how can you just start the day with those things blaring in your ears?” Emira scoffed.

“Well unlike you,” Edric countered, finally turning off the stove “ _ Some _ people need help waking up on time. Not all of us have the freakish ability to wake up at the same time everyday without one.”

Emira laughed at that before finishing her food. She stood from the table then, responding to Ed’s jab with mention of her  _ ‘Beauty sleep’ _ and how  _ ‘Her skill was one that he couldn’t hope to master’ _ . 

Edric simply shot back saying that she might want to consider getting more beauty sleep if she wanted to ask out that detention track girl. 

Amity almost choked on her food upon hearing that.  _ Emira wanted to ask someone out? From the detention track?!  _ She was more surprised that Emira even  _ knew  _ anyone from the detention track. Her sister didn’t hide her attraction to girls- like Amity did- but still. After downing a few gulps of water she looked to her siblings. Edric was laughing. And Emira was blushing, trying- and failing- to come up with a come back. With a huff she turned and stalked out of the room, probably cursing Ed under her breath.

Amity couldn’t help but giggle, it wasn’t often that she saw her sister like that. And with how often the two of them made fun of Amity? It felt fair. 

“Oh, ooh.” Ed was catching his breath and leaning heavily against the counter, “That was funny.”

“You know she’s gonna get back at you for that right?”

“Yeah I know, but that was worth it.” He wiped a tear from his eye, still chuckling. 

Shaking her head she continued to eat her food, a small smile present on her face. A comfortable silence filled the room while the two finished their meals. Amity always enjoyed when Ed made food- he was  _ quite _ good at it after all. 

Ed sighed after finishing his food, obviously happy with what he’d made. He sat quietly for a second before asking if Amity had enjoyed the food as much as he had. 

“They’re pretty good,” Amity agreed, “But why did you want to make pancakes? It’s a little late for them don’t you think?” She wasn’t complaining- just curious.

“One,” He began, “It’s never too late for pancakes. Two, I wanted something simple. I always feel sick if I eat too much after waking up.” He took both plates to the sink to wash them and put them away. 

Not wanting him to do this by himself, Amity stepped up next to him at the sink so she could help. This was how they stood for a quiet few minutes while they worked. After they finished Ed broke the silence.

“So what time did you actually end up going to bed last night?” He asked. Again his tone was curious.

_ He’ll know if you lie,  _ Amity’s brain reminded her. “Well, it was really late. It was more like I fell asleep this morning for a few hours, I can’t remember exactly when.” As long as she told the truth, he would be none the wiser. All she had to do was…  _ omit _ some details.

Ed just gave a  _ ‘Hmmm’ _ in response. 

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m just wondering is all, I wasn’t lying when I said I couldn’t remember you ever over sleeping this much.” He waved his hand dismissively and Amity felt the tension leave her shoulders. So he was just checking up on her, that’s good. “So what did you and your friend talk about while you were out?”

_ What. _

She froze. 

_ He knew _ .  _ How did he know?  _ Her thoughts began racing, coming up with dozens of possible ways he could know- did someone see them? Did he follow her- did Emira follow her? What if-

“Geez Mittens calm down,” He raised his hands defensively, “I just asked a question- you look like you’re going to implode with how hard you’re thinking.”

“H-how did you know?” She was baffled, she made sure that neither of them had seen her leave,  _ but- _

“I saw you when you came back this morning.”

_ But what if he saw her come back. _

The thought occurred to her as he said it. Oh  _ Titan _ she was an idiot!

“I mean I didn’t know you were with your friend obviously, but I guessed that’s where you were. And I was right!” His arms were extended on either side of him, a grin plastered on his face. After he realised Amity wasn’t going to say anything his arms lowered, “Alright now you’re worrying me- you were with your friend right? I mean, you weren’t doing drugs or anything right?”

She couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed at her brother, still stuck in her thoughts before his last sentence fully processed in her mind. “Wha- No I was not doing drugs!” Edric heaved a sigh of relief at this, “And… You’re right- I was with a friend.” She self consciously rubbed her arm, trying to reassure herself.

His hand ruffled her hair in that way he knew she hated, “Good for you. Going out, making friends- and behind our parents backs no less?” He winked conspiratorially, “That’s even better.” 

He finally removed his hand from her head- turning to walk out of the room.

“So that’s it?” She asked incredulously, “Really?”

He turned back to her looking confused, “Uh, yeah. Really.” He shrugged, “That’s it.” He almost turned back around before a thought occurred to him, “Actually, maybe I should give them the shovel talk.” He grinned, “It’s not like dad will.” 

She felt her face  _ ignite _ . Everywhere from the tips of her ears to her neck was blushing profusely, “NO! You don’t have to do that!” She shouted- a little too loud- while practically sprinting from the room.

“ _ Don’t do anything I would do Mittens!”  _ He shouted,” _ And definitely don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” _

She could hear him cackling from all the way upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. This chapter was probably the hardest one to write so far, don't ask me why- I have no idea. I may come back and edit this chapter later on down the line but I'll let you all know if that happens. With that being said I am very happy with the whole dream sequence (it was a lot of fun to write) and I think it works a lot better than what I originally wrote in its place. 
> 
> And we're also going to be seeing everyone's favorite Owl Lady and Head of The Emperor's Coven in a couple chapters so stay tuned for that.
> 
> Hope everyone's having a good day/night, stay safe, and thanks for reading!
> 
> (p.s- I absolutely love all the comments I've gotten on this so far, thank you all so much!)


	5. Chapter 5

The next day Amity awoke at 7:30 am exactly. She’d gone to sleep early the night before, knowing she’d need the sleep for today- even if that meant she couldn’t spend as much time with Luz. 

The two had spent the past few days together- in some way or another. The first had been,  _ eventful  _ to say the least- with the two meeting for the first time that night in the woods. The next night had been when they’d had their question and answer session to find out more about each other, and there was a  _ lot  _ to learn about Luz. The girl was a spirit, she loved exploring during the night- that’s what she’d been doing when she found Amity-, she had an insatiable curiosity, and so much more. They’d met another time the day before yesterday where the two had spent the night talking and enjoying each other’s company. It was relaxing.

Then there was last night. Amity couldn’t help that her ears drooped at the memory. She’d met up with Luz- as had become their ritual- and the two had talked for an hour, maybe two, before Amity had to leave her again. “I have school tomorrow, and I can’t stay up all night,” She’d told the spirit, panicking when she saw the girl’s face fall, “As much as I’d want to! Really, I like talking to you.” She knew her cheeks were pink after she’d finished that statement. It was inevitable it seemed.

So they’d come up with an idea. Everyday, if Amity wasn’t busy that is, they’d meet up in the woods to tell each other about their day. That idea had made Luz smile again- even brighter than before.

Amity sighed, shaking her head to clear the memory. She had to focus- otherwise she’d be late, she couldn’t have that. Any flaw or slip up, intentional or not, would be found out by their parents who would ensure that punishment would follow. Just because they were out of town didn’t mean the kids were safe from their wrath. It was just delayed.

_ Focus. _ She reminded herself,  _ Focus on here, and now. _

Her fingers found the handle of her brush wrapping around it tightly, feeling the familiar sensation of the wood material that made up the base of her brush. It was cool to the touch- no doubt from resting on the bathroom counter throughout the night. That was good. It helped her focus on what she needed to do. First she had to brush her hair into something presentable. The sound and sensation of the brush gliding through her hair was soothing, were she any more tired it would have lulled her back to sleep. After a few final brushes she pulled her hair into its usual style and secured it with a hairband. 

Her reflection stared back at her. Makeup applied flawlessly, hair brushed and pulled back, her clothes were in pristine condition- not a speck of dust or dirt on them anyway. Her mother would say she looked perfect. Well,  _ almost _ perfect. The shock of brown hair that were her roots were growing out again in contrast to the  _ acceptable _ green hair that was expected from a Blight.

She wondered what she would look like with her old brown hair again. She wasn’t sure that she’d change her hair style, but having her natural color come in would be a nice change she thought. If only she could actually let that happen, but alas she had to dye it again before it grew out too much- as per orders from her mother. The mother that would be back in two days.

Finally she turned away from the mirror, opening the door into her room before setting out for the kitchen. Edric would give her grief the whole way to school if she didn’t have at least  _ some  _ of the breakfast he made. And she’d be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy his food, but he didn’t need to know that.

_ Don’t need to feed his ego,  _ She thought to herself as she stepped into the kitchen. Emira had already finished it seemed, she was just scrolling through penstagram with Edric eating across the table from her. Amity took some food from the large plate on the counter- waffles this time- and began to eat, waiting for her siblings to acknowledge her arrival. Her sister simply tilted her head in her direction, her brother began animatedly talking to her with his mouth full of waffle. How people at school found him attractive was beyond her.

And so that’s how they sat all the way until the time they needed to leave for school, each standing and making their spots at the table look neat before they left. The walk was nice- calm and easy- and the weather was absolutely perfect. A little on the cooler side but it felt nice paired with Amity’s jacket. It wasn’t until they’d almost reached school grounds that Amity realised the twins had been uncharacteristically quiet for the latter half of the walk- she wasn’t complaining, the two would often drive her crazy just for the sake of it. However, this was suspicious. 

Risking a glance back to them showed that the two were just on their scrolls, not even paying Amity any attention. “Have you two just been on your scrolls this whole time?” 

The other two just nodded again, not offering any verbal answer. 

_ Ok then _ , Amity thought,  _ Weird.  _ It’s not like she had any time to question it though- the school was looming ahead of them. The three filed in through the doors, moving through and around the crowds of students as they made their way to their lockers. The twins still hadn’t left Amity by the time she began to get her books from her locker, deciding instead to lean against the wall on either side of her. That was  _ definitely  _ not normal. “Is there a reason you two haven’t left for your classes yet?” She asked, pulling her books to her chest.

“Hmm?” Emira stopped examining her nails to look to her younger sister, “Whatever do you mean?”

“Yeah Mittens, can’t we just wait with you until you leave for class?” Edric chimed in, giving her an almost innocent smile. 

“No,” Amity deadpanned, “No you can’t.” For one, Amity knew that her sibling’s class was all the way across the school and if they didn’t leave now they’d be late- not like they cared. And two, she knew the twins were up to something- exactly what, she wasn’t sure. But she didn’t trust them. 

Emira and Edric were both taken aback, Amity usually wasn’t that blunt. The two blinked owlishly before plastering their smiles back on their faces, “That’s not very nice Mittens, do you not love your siblings enough to want to spend time with them?” 

“Whenever you two want to ‘spend time with me’ I usually end up in trouble or embarrassed while you two manage to avoid getting in trouble.” Amity wasn’t having any of it, not today. She was  _ not  _ going to be held after school for something the twins did- she was going to go through the school day, finish her work, and meet with Luz. Amity had questions to ask the spirit. She turned on her heel, briskly walking away from her siblings and towards her first class, “Not today.” 

After that her school day went by like normal. Her first class was a bore like usual- thank goodness she’d gotten enough sleep, she’d be asleep with her head on the desk otherwise. Her teacher had called on her multiple times to answer a question and she’d gotten each on correct- as was expected of her. The second class of the day wasn’t as bad, she actually enjoyed it more than the first one, but it was nothing extraordinary- and the day continued much like that all the way until lunch.

Her eyes wandered around the cafeteria when she set foot in the door, looking for a place to sit. Sitting with Boscha and her  _ ‘friends’  _ wasn’t an option- not after the fight they’d had- and besides, Amity didn’t particularly want to sit with them anyway. Going to her siblings’ table was an option, but she still wasn’t sure what they were up to. Probably not a good idea then, but it wasn’t like there were any other places for her to go. She sighed, resigning herself to sitting with her brother and sister until a familiar voice spoke up from behind her.

“Oh, Miss Blight-” The voice began, “This is a pleasant surprise.” The speaker’s voice was calm and educated.

Amity startled- turning quickly to face the person talking to her, hoping that it was who she thought. “Miss Clawthorne! Hello!” She felt a grin spreading across her face and fought to keep it under control, “How are you ma’am?” She loved Miss Clawthorne- she was smart, respected, powerful- how could she not like her? And in addition to all that, Lilith Clawthorne was Amity’s mentor, teaching her how to excel and perfect her magic so that one day Amity might surpass her.

“I’m doing well, I hope you are as well?” Amity’s quick nod was all the answer she gave, “That’s good- say, are you busy at the moment? I wanted to speak with you later but seeing as how we’re both here I wondered if we could go to my office and talk?” Her voice was pleasant, and like always it managed to put Amity at ease and take her mind off the situation at hand.

“Of course.” It wasn’t like Amity had anywhere else to be right now, and even if she did she’d rather talk to Miss Clawthorne. With that the two stepped out into the hallway and began the walk to the older witch’s office- turning through quiet hallway after quiet hallway. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Lilith stopped in front of her door, casting a simple spell to unlock it before opening it wide and gesturing for her pupil to enter. It was a pleasant coincidence that she’d encountered Amity, she’d needed to talk to her about important matters and the poor girl had looked a little forlorn standing there in the door to the cafeteria. It was a win-win she supposed. 

After stepping into the room and closing the door behind her she looked to the young witch- who was currently looking around the room with an awed expression like she hadn’t been in here countless times before. She smiled, “Feel free to sit down and start eating, I know I’m taking up your lunch period right now,” With a small circle of her finger all the materials on her expansive wooden desk moved to one side to allow space for the two, “I may join you, I’m feeling somewhat hungry myself.” 

As the two ate they fell into a comfortable silence, interrupted only by casual questions every so often. Only after the two finished did Lilith begin the conversation she’d wanted to discuss with the young witch, “Now Amity, about what I wanted to talk to you about,” She gave the girl her full attention, “How do you feel you are doing in your abominations class?”

Amity looked taken aback, but managed to clear the shock off her face rather quickly, “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean Miss Lilith,” Lilith’s face took on a small- almost invisible- smile upon hearing Amity call her that. She’d told the girl that in one on one settings she could simply call her by her first name and Lilith would do the same, but it seemed it was a hard habit for her to break. “What about my abominations class?”

“How do you feel about the difficulty of what you are studying right now? Is it difficult? Easy?” The girl’s ears drooped a little as she contemplated her answer, “And please be as honest as you can, it’s quite relevant.”

“Everything we’re practising right now feels... Easy?” She cringed as she said it, like she expected some rebuke- Lilith only gestured for her to continue, “I don’t really know how to describe it.”

Lilith nodded her head along with Amity’s musings, “Mhmm, and do you think this has anything to do with the instruction you’ve gotten from me?” The witchling nodded. Lilith continued, “Amity, how would you feel about spending more time with me tutoring you? Learning more advanced magics?” She hoped Amity would accept her offer, she enjoyed teaching the young girl- she reminded her of the better parts of herself. How she should have been as a child.  _ Oh how long ago that was… _

The green haired witch didn’t respond for a minute, simply staring at her- Lilith swore she could see the gears turning in her head. Amity’s eyes were wider than Lilith had ever seen them, “Really?” She had never seen the girl’s face so open, so full of expression. At her affirmative, Amity’s face broke into a dazzling smile. Lilith turned away, hiding the soft smile on her face and grabbing a book from the bookcase behind her desk- placing it face up for Amity to see. The witchling took in the book eagerly.

“This book,” Lilith tapped the cover, “Contains advanced spells and magics that are reserved for final year students, and is only available to teachers and educators so that they may teach from it.” Amity looked awed, looking as if she wanted nothing more to grab the book and begin reading- Lilith in turn pushed the book towards her, wordlessly giving the young witch permission to do just that. She grinned upon seeing the girl take the book and immediately open it, “If you wish to undertake more tutoring, this is the book that I will be teaching you from. Understand that this is not something to be taken lightly- those spells are meant for older students and some of them would frustrate even the most experienced witches.”

Amity nodded, looking up from the book for the first time since she’d opened it, “I understand Miss, I swear that I’ll do my best!” She was leaning forward intently now, holding the book close to her chest with an eager expression on her face.

Lilith leaned forward in her chair, “Does this mean you’d like to continue learning under me?” The girl across from her nodded eagerly with her ears twitching in excitement. Lilith stood, coming around the desk, “Well Amity,” She held her hand out, “I look forward to our next lesson.” Amity took her hand, standing up and shaking it firmly. 

The bell screamed a minute later, with the two making a plan to meet up once again after the school day to sort out the remainder of the details regarding their next lesson. 

That had been the plan at least. 

It was the second to last period of the day and Lilith had been finishing up paperwork, both for the school and the Emperor’s Coven- only to be interrupted by someone frantically knocking on her office door. She could feel her eyebrows creep up her face,  _ This is unusual _ , She though, rising from her desk and swiftly moving for the door. “Amity?” She wondered upon opening the door, “What are you doing here?” 

The poor girl looked frantic, worried- her eyes were darting from her hands to Lilith’s eyes and back again. She had her hands clutched together in a white knuckle grip- Lilith briefly wondered if she had the strength to break her hands on accident. Her gasping breaths were making Lilith anxious. The older woman moved aside, quickly gesturing for the girl to come in, “What happened?”

The girl stopped in the middle of the room and turned to her mentor- who had crouched down to be at her level. She released her hands and held them out to Lilith. She noticed they were shaking. “What is it?” She held her hands in her own- examining them closely, “Did you hurt your hands? What happened?” She couldn’t see anything wrong with them.

“My- my hands,” Her voice was shaking, and Lilith finally saw what had shaken her up, “They’re glow- glowing.” They were faint, but it was there. A golden glow was present underneath her skin- following along the veins in her hands.

Lilith cupped the girl’s hands in her own, “Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out together,” She pulled her up as she stood, and gently pushed her into the same office chair she’d occupied earlier, “Breathe, in and out, in and out” Inhaling and exhaling along with the girl until her breathing settled enough for Lilith to feel like she could begin to figure out what happened, “What happened?”

Amity sniffled, there were tears welling in her eyes, “I was in my- my abominations class and I did a practice spell, I summoned a small abomination,” Her sniffles interrupted her explanation, “And when I did my hands started glowing and they felt really hot, like it was almost burning me.” 

Lilith had never heard of something like this, “Did they glow brighter than they are now?” Amity nodded shakily- saying that they were much brighter before, “Alright, and is that when you came here?” She summoned a handkerchief to wipe away the girl’s tears.

“Mhm, I told my teacher I needed to use the bathroom.” 

“Ok,” Lilith hated having to do this, “I hate to ask this, but to find out what this could be I need to see what it looks like. Do you think you could cast another spell for me? A small spell, nothing major, as long as I’m here nothing will happen to you- I promise.” She met Amity’s gaze, seeing the girl nod slightly. She raised one hand- shakily drawing a tiny purple spell circle, and just like Amity said the glow resurfaced. The feeling of the magic surging underneath the girl’s skin made Lilith shudder- it felt, almost familiar? 

It was bright enough to actually cast light on the two witches, and she could see Amity cringe at the heat that surged through her hands. Lilith had to pull her hand away from Amity’s so that she wouldn’t get burned.  _ Titan, _ she thought as she cast a spell to nullify the spell Amity had cast,  _ This poor girl. _ “Amity, if you are alright with it I would like for you to stay here until the day ends, and I will try to figure out what is happening to you.” 

Amity nodded, pulling her knees to her chest in the chair, “Do you still have that book Miss?” Her voice was quiet and trembling, and Lilith’s heart ached as she grabbed the book off the desk and handed it to the girl. Amity opened the book to a seemingly random page to begin reading- the tension slowly creeping out of her shoulders as she did.

After Amity began reading, Lilith turned to her bookshelf- she had to find out what was going on. Pulling a stack of books down and sitting at her chair, Lilith got started. Hours passed. When the school day ended she had to wake up Amity from her spot in the chair- sending her home with the promise that if she needed help at any point, she could come to Lilith no matter the time. Amity promised that if it came to that she would have her siblings bring her to Lilith’s home- the witchling had been there many times beforehand for their tutoring lessons. 

Now Lilith was at home in her personal office and the clock told her it was nearly 1 am, but still she was no closer to an answer. She had gone through every book she owned: history texts, magic tomes, healing books- none of them had an answer. Frustration was all she felt now, she had access to all the knowledge the Boiling Isles had to offer and she couldn’t find anything- not even a hint- of what was affecting her student. She hadn’t realised she’d swiped all the books off her desk and onto the floor until one landed on her foot. It was a thick, heavy history tome- one of the first books she’d gone for upon her arrival back home- it was the most detailed text on the history of the Boiling Isles that money could buy.

Growling at the uselessness of all the books around her, she crouched and snatched up the book, looking at the page it had opened to. ‘ **_Chapter Two: Wild Magic and Magic Before the Coven System’_ ** . She stared at the page blankly- her tired mind taking longer than it should to process the words on the page. She let out a weary sigh as the words finally struck home and she came to a realization: if she truly wanted to exhaust every lead- and she did- then she’d have to go to the only person on the Boiling Isles who knew more about Wild Magic than she did.

Her sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. This chapter is the longest one I've ever written and I would like to ask all of you to kindly ignore any errors in this one as I finished writing it at 1am so I'm in the same boat as Lilith.
> 
> Also, Lilith! I'm really happy that I finally got to write her because she's probably one of my favorite characters in the show, and if you couldn't already tell I also really like Lilith and Amity having a student-teacher/mentor bond similar to the own Eda and Luz have in the show. And don't worry, we'll see Eda in the next chapter, you have my word. 
> 
> And finally, sorry that this chapter was a little late, school and work have been kicking my butt since last week and I finally had time today to put more work into this.
> 
> Love all the comments I've gotten so far (thank you all so much!) and I hope you all stay safe and have a nice day/night.


	6. Chapter 6

To say that Eda was unhappy was an understatement. A  _ severe _ understatement. Couldn’t she have one night- just one night- of uninterrupted sleep? Every single night she had to deal with insomnia, nightmares, or chronic pain- all of which could be blamed on the curse. But tonight she’d been laying comfortably in her nest, warm and happy and actually  _ asleep _ for once. She’d even been having a pleasant dream, one which saw her and her sister practicing spells together like they used to as children. 

Then King had woken her up.

He’d padded quietly up to the edge of her nest before beginning to repeat her name in a stage whisper that had forced her to wake up. Her sleep addled mind had taken longer than it should have to comprehend what it was seeing and hearing. Blinking away the bleariness had shown her a nervous looking King. The tips of his claws were tapping together as he explained himself- ‘There was someone downstairs who wanted to talk to her’ he’d said, adding that she should take her staff with her. Just in case.

So here she was- dressed in her pajamas and descending the stairs with Owlbert in hand, cursing the whole way. Her slippers muffled her steps on the wood, which must’ve been the reason the person in her living room didn’t hear her approach. Eda’s body froze upon seeing who was standing in the middle of the room and she rubbed her eyes with her free hand- convinced she was hallucinating. When the figure didn’t disappear she knew it was real.

“Lilith?” She was dumbfounded,  _ What was her sister doing here? _

The witch in question startled- her body jumping slightly and whirling around to face her. Once their eyes locked she stopped, subconsciously straightening her back and tensing her shoulders, “Hello Edalyn.”

“What are you doing here?” She wondered aloud before a thought occurred to her, “You’re not here to take me to the Emperor’s coven,” She raised Owlbert in front of her- taking a defensive stance, “Are you?” Her voice was challenging, but her mind was racing. Lilith may have been incredibly powerful, but she was also incredibly smart. Choosing to fight Eda in her own home was not the sort of plan she’d make.

Lilith sighed, sounding weary and looking as tired as Eda felt, “No sister, I’m not here to fight.” Her hands were spread placatingly- showing that they were empty. Eda couldn’t see her staff anywhere either, “Could we sit?” Lilith gestured to the couch next to her, “I’ve had a long day.”

Eda lowered Owlbert slowly- sensing no aggression from her sister. She looked exhausted, wary.  _ Oh Lily, _ she thought,  _ what happened? _ “Sure,” Eda acquiesced before jerking her thumb over her shoulder, “Want to sit in the kitchen? I need some apple blood- and you look like you need some too.”

“I’ll take some tea if you have it.” Lilith followed behind her younger sister as she led the way to the kitchen- sitting heavily in a chair while Eda searched for their drinks. It took her a minute to find the tea due to the fact she never drank it, but she eventually found it and set some to boil in a kettle. She leaned her back against the counter, taking a sip from her glass of appleblood as she examined her sister. Her hair was disheveled, her eyes were exhausted, and she was rubbing her temples in an obvious attempt to ease a headache. She looked terrible.

Neither said anything for awhile, simply resting in the silence of the kitchen while they waited for the kettle to boil. Eda poured her sister a mug of the tea once it finished- adding some honey and sugar before placing it in front of Lilith at the table. Eda sank into the seat across from her, waiting to see if her sister would offer an explanation. When she didn’t, Eda leaned forward slightly, “Ok, so,” She began- continuing once she saw Lilith look up from her mug, “What happened Lily? It must really be something if you came to see me- in the middle of the night especially. I mean really, what time is it? Three in the morning?”

Lilith took a long sip from her mug, “Closer to two actually.” She sighed, placing the mug back down and holding it to warm her hands. Eda watched as Lilith closed her eyes and collected her thoughts- only continuing to speak after a moment of thought, “I need your help Edalyn.”

Eda couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows at her sister’s admission. Lilith needed her help.  _ Lilith _ needed  _ her _ help. She could feel a smile start at the corners of her mouth, ready to start gloating before her mind stopped her-  _ What could be so bad that Lilith came to  _ her  _ for help? _ Something big was happening. “You need my help,” She clarified, “With what?” 

Eda knew her sister as much as she knew herself, and she could see Lilith was thinking of a way to answer the question without showing all of her cards, “And if you don’t tell me everything I’ll kick you out and you won’t get my help.”  _ Oh ho _ , that got Lily’s attention- she was looking at Eda like she did when Eda would embarrass her when they were kids.

After sighing and muttering under her breath for a second Lilith began her explanation, “One of my students has come down with an…  _ affliction  _ of some sort-” She gave Eda a pointed look when it looked like she was about to interrupt, “An affliction that- try as I might- I cannot find reference to in any book or text.”

“You’re sure?” Eda found that hard to believe. After all, Lilith had access to an extensive library that was filled with books of different subjects and Eda knew for a fact that she also had many books that were obtained through  _ illicit  _ means- some knowledge just wasn’t meant for the general populace. Her sister looked exhausted- it was possible she’d missed something. Unlikely, but possible- and she was sure to mention this to her sister.

Lilith gave Eda a tired smirk, “Really?” She asked with humor in her voice, “You think I’d miss something in a book? You do remember how much I read as a child don’t you?” Honestly Eda couldn’t help but snort at that- she had a point. Her sister’s face grew serious once again and brought the conversation back on track, “But I’m sure I missed nothing. No, I think the cause of this is something that hasn’t been documented in any meaningful way.”

Eda’s body had leaned forward without her meaning it to- invested in what her sister was saying. She was  _ very _ curious now, “And what would that be?” 

“Wild Magic.”

“You think your student is studying Wild Magic?” Her sister must really care about this kid if she’d come to Eda for help with this, “Why’d you come to me with this- why not stop the kid from doing it in the first place?”

Lilith rubbed her eyes again out of exhaustion- raising her cup to her lips to take another sip before realising it was empty. Her eyes met Eda’s again, “No I don’t think she’s studying Wild Magic exactly, but it’s definitely related in some way- how exactly I don’t know.” And so Lilith explained everything she knew- the heat and light under Amity’s skin, how it only appeared when she’d tried to cast a spell, and how it had a similar feeling to Eda’s magic. All she left out was Amity’s identity- she didn’t feel comfortable telling Eda about her without the girl’s permission.

Eda had to sit back to process all of the information she’d just been told. So one of Lily’s students had done  _ something _ that was  _ somehow _ related to Wild Magic, and it had some sort of lasting impact on her. A seemingly negative impact. That wasn’t enough though- she needed to know more if she really wanted to help in a meaningful way, but it seemed that Lilith didn’t have any more information to offer. This was something that needed to be dealt with quickly- Wild Magic was not something to be trifled with, “Alright,” She began, “I think we both agree that this is serious and that we need to deal with this quick,” Lilith nodded in agreement, “But I can’t help as much as I can without meeting this kid face to face and getting a sense of what’s happening.”

She could see Lilith had thought of that already, but judging from her expression it was something she’d prefer to avoid. Lilith’s eyes flicked away from Eda’s for a second- yeah, she  _ really _ didn’t like that option, “As much as I agree with you- it’s not my decision to make. If you’re not preoccupied tomorrow I could bring her here- if she agrees to it that is.” 

“That works for me, just make sure no one decides to follow you here- I don’t want any goons from the Emperor’s Coven to find out where I live.” 

Lilith scoffed at that, mockingly placing a hand over her heart, “Oh how little you must think of me if you think I’d let that happen.” The two shared a laugh at that, it felt like old times. Just the two of them together laughing at the world. It made Eda’s heart ache. The two of them sat like that for longer than they should have, enjoying each other’s company and catching up long after both their drinks ran dry.

But sadly the time came when they had to part ways, Eda had to get some rest to deal with whatever would come tomorrow while Lilith had to wake up in time for her job at the school. Eda only hoped they’d be able to do this again.

She wasn’t the only one either.

~~~~~~~~~~

When Amity arrived to school the next day she didn’t know what to expect. She’d been ignoring the twins’ worried looks and questions since she’d woken up- it made her feel guilty, but lying would just make it worse. They’d followed her to her locker like the day before, but instead of staying with them she’d gone to her first class as soon as she’d gotten her books. They hadn’t followed her after that.

Her first class was empty when she first sat down, save for the teacher at the front. Classes didn’t officially start for almost another ten minutes so it made sense. She was doodling in one of her notebooks when someone came in- them and her teacher talking in almost inaudible voices. She paused her drawing. It was a small thing- contained in the corner of a page- depicting a familiar face with little licks of flame coming off it.  _ Luz _ . Her cheeks tinted pink and she slammed the book shut with enough force to catch her teacher’s attention. She sheepishly muttered an apology and they continued their conversation. 

“Miss Blight?” Her gaze snapped back up to the doorway- recognizing the voice as the figure stepped into the room, “Could you come with me?” It was Miss Lilith! “You can bring your school materials.” Amity wasted no time in gathering her books and notebooks- hastily gathering them all in her arms and quickly moving to stand by Miss Lilith. They stood there a few seconds longer while Lilith finished her conversation with the other teacher before she led Amity out of the room and through the halls. 

Their path twisted and turned through the many halls of Hexside, keeping to the less crowded ones until the bell to start first period rang. Once the bell rang and the halls emptied their walk became much quicker,  _ ‘Miss Lilith must be trying to avoid people seeing us.’ _ Amity thought to herself as her mentor began to speak, “How was your night Amity? You got some rest I hope?”

Amity stood up straighter now that Lilith’s attention was on her- nodding her head a little too quick, “I got some sleep last night, yes,” That was true- she had ended up getting a few hours of sleep, however fitful it may have been, “But I am a little tired still. How are you Miss Lilith?” Her head turned to stare up at the taller witch, hoping she wouldn’t get annoyed with her for asking. Should she have asked? It was only polite since Miss Lilith asked first, but what if she didn’t want to answer?  _ ‘Now Miss Lilith is going to think I’m being rude, why did I have to ask her that?’ _ Amity’s mental tirade was stopped as she heard Lilith sigh.

“Truth be told I am a little tired, but you don’t need to worry about me,” She looked to Amity and smiled, “Thank you for your concern.”

Amity blinked owlishly, stunned. Miss Lilth was happy that Amity had asked how she was? But- anytime she asked her parents how they were they’d be upset at her questioning- wasn’t Miss Lilith upset with her at all? Her feet had stopped carrying her forward, unbeknownst to her while she was stuck in her own head. Only when Lilith called her name did she break out of her stupor- letting out an embarrassed squeak as she ran to stand at the woman’s side again. The pair began walking again with Amity now trying to avoid getting caught up in her thoughts again. Their walk was spent in awkward silence- at least Amity felt it was awkward- until they turned down another corridor and she recognized where they were immediately. 

Her mentor stepped forward, towards the dark wooden door in front of them. After knocking they waited for a second before a voice rang out from inside- granting them permission to enter in a calm tone. She opened the door for Amity then, allowing her to enter first and sweeping in behind her.

Principal Bump looked up from the document he was writing on- an eyebrow arching upwards as he examined the two newcomers. As Lilith shut the door he set down his pen and laced his fingers together in front of his face, “And to what do I owe this pleasure- I feel secure in assuming Miss Blight is not trouble,” His eyes glanced to Amity warmly, “So, Ms.Clawthorne, what can I help you with?” He smiled cordially to the teacher, gesturing to the chairs across from him- inviting them to sit. 

Amity sat carefully- watching Lilith, unsure of how she was going to proceed. The witch in question sat elegantly, expression as calm as ever as she regarded the principal, “As I’m sure you’re aware, Miss Blight is my apprentice,” She gestured to the young witch, “And we have recently come to the decision to increase the frequency of our tutoring sessions- as such, I am taking her out of school for the day so that we may practice.” Her voice was even- not asking for permission from Bump, but not being rude in her statement of their intentions. The green haired witch was thinking while the two adults conversed with each other- wondering at what her mentor had said, ‘ _ Practice? What about what’s going on with me- I can’t do magic like this!’ _

The principal looked between the two calmly and nodded to himself, “I see. And is this the reason for her not being present for her last class yesterday?” Amity felt her shoulders tense when Bump said that, she hadn’t thought about her absence yesterday- of course it would be on record! The young witch looked to her mentor, wondering what she’d say in response. ‘ _ She couldn’t lie to Principal Bump could she?’  _ How would Miss Lilith respond?

“That’s correct, I had some questions for her and I pulled her out of her last period class to address them,” The dark haired witch held Bump’s gaze, not flinching under his steady eye, “It was my intention to hold her for only a few minutes and then release her back to her class, I simply lost track of time.”

A beat of silence followed. He slowly looked from Lilith to Amity and back again, expressionless. He nodded, “Alright. I will be sure to remove her absence yesterday from her record,” He leaned to the side and opened a drawer, “And I will be sure not to count her absent for today, but if you’d humor me for a moment- what will you two be working on?” 

Lilith leaned forward in her chair, “We are going to be practising controlling powerful advanced level spells,” She drew a circle in the air- summoning the advanced spellbook she’d shown Amity the day before, “This is what we’ll be studying from.”

In a split second Amity was filled with nerves- what if Principle Bump didn’t think she could handle it? What if he forbid her from practicing with Lilith? Her mind ground to a halt with one terrifying thought- ‘ _ What if he stops Miss Lilith from teaching me?’ _ She didn’t think she could handle that if it happened. Principal Bump was holding the book in his hand- lazily flipping through the pages while Amity held her breath. The sound of a clock ticking was the only thing audible in the room.

Principal Bump shut the book, handing it back to Lilith, “And you believe Miss Blight is up to the challenge?” He had laced his fingers back together- examining the two over the tops of his hands. 

Amity looked to Lilith- who was wearing a confident smile, “I have no doubt.”

Bump then smiled in turn, dropping his hands and standing from his chair. He walked around the desk as his two guests stood from their seats, “Then I will have faith in her as well,” He came to a stop in front of Amity- extending his hand to the witch. His smile grew as she took his hand and gave it a nervous shake, “Congratulations Miss Blight, you’ve earned it.”

As they left Bump’s office Amity had to stop herself from flapping her hands and bouncing one the balls of her feet- Principal Bump had said she earned it! Her excitement seemed to radiate into the very air around her, as Lilith turned to the girl with a wide smile, “Well? Are you ready to start your first  _ advanced  _ lesson?”

Amity could only nod enthusiastically- smiling from ear to ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How I can write a story that is 15,000 words and still going without complaint but struggle to write a few hundred word essay is beyond me, but hey! Here we are.
> 
> Finally we get to see Eda and Lilith in the same chapter and I gotta say that the two of them interacting was probably my favorite section to write so far, I guess it makes sense since they're two of my favorite characters. Writing Bump was kinda difficult though, I tried to make him nice but he also had to be the principal that we see him be in the show so I don't know how well that went- hopefully okay. 
> 
> Hope all of you are having a great day or night, stay safe, and thank you for reading! (and commenting, they honestly make my day)  
> Also I don't think i've said this before, but you guys can find me on instagram @hey_red101, I post updates to the story over there and try- keyword try- to make art. I'm a better writer than I am an artist.
> 
> p.s- do you guys like foreshadowing? I like foreshadowing ;)


	7. Chapter 7

The bounce in Amity’s step had lasted all the way through them walking out the gates of Hexside, excitement was running through her body and it was only growing. She was on her way to practice new spells with her mentor- and she gets to ride on Miss Lilith’s palisman again! She wouldn’t tell her mentor this, but riding on the palisman was one of her favorite parts of their lesson- second only to the classes themselves. However, with how often her teacher offered to fly her places Amity had a creeping feeling that she already knew. 

Lilith had let go of her staff, allowing it to float on its own parallel to the ground for the two to get on. Amity got on the staff after her mentor had done the same- the two sitting side saddle on the staff with Amity behind the older witch. The staff took off without a word from its owner, rising gracefully into the sky with the ease of a bird taking flight. Amity leaned back slightly, moving her head from behind Lilith so the wind could brush through her hair and flow past her ears. It was bliss. 

A few minutes passed like this- Lilith and Amity in silence with the latter enjoying the ride. Amity had her eyes closed to truly enjoy the moment, but she could feel them slow to a halt as the wind seemed to slow to a crawl. The witchling opened her eyes to take in the area around them- below them really- and to look towards her mentor.

Lilith noticed the girl’s questioning expression and turned to face her as much as possible on the narrow staff, “Amity, dear, I need to ask you something,” All of her focus was on Amity whose face lightly flushed from the attention, “And I need you to be honest with me as this choice is important and I want you to be the one to make the decision. Do you think you could do that for me?”

No matter how often Lilith gave Amity her full attention it always made her anxious- adults typically didn’t do that unless they were mad at you.  _ Right? _ Nerves began coiling in Amity’s stomach as she tried to remind herself that this was Miss Lilith, and not one of her parents-  _ ‘Miss Lilith isn’t mad- she doesn’t get mad. She just wants to ask a question.’  _ The thought comforted her and she nodded- showing her mentor that it was ok for her to continue. 

“I believe that I have found a person who would be able to help us with whatever seems to be ailing you, and if you want then we can go to see her in person and hopefully learn more about this whole situation. However,” Lilith put extra emphasis on this, “if you don’t feel comfortable with that, then we can go to my home and go through our lesson like we planned and I will learn everything I can from them about how to help.”

The words from her mentor took a minute to fully sink in,  _ ‘She found someone who can help?’ _ Her breath caught in her throat at the realisation, “Do you think we should go see them?” Amity was careful not to move too much on the staff, but she was eager to hear what Lilith thought they should do.

In response, her mentor raised her hand to stop the young witch, “Now, Amity- I am not going to offer my opinion on this because I want this to be  _ your _ decision. I will answer any questions you have but this is your choice to make- you are the one being affected by this, so the decision is yours.” 

Amity was taken aback. _It was her choice to make?_ _‘But- aren’t the adults supposed to make big decisions? What if I make the wrong choice-’_ Her pulse quickened and her foot began bouncing, _‘What will happen then?’_ Her gaze found Lilith’s, “What if I make a bad choice?”

“This is about what  _ you _ want to do, when it comes to that there is no bad choice.” Lilith’s hand was on her shoulder- warm and comforting. Amity leaned into the touch without thought, “And know this: whichever choice you make, we will get through this together. I promise you.”

The knot of tension in Amity’s stomach began to loosen its hold and her heart began to slow its pace once again. She took a moment to collect her thoughts and let her mentor’s words sink in.  _ ‘Ask questions-’ _ She reminded herself,  _ ‘She wants me to ask questions, not for her decision.’  _ The green haired witch took in a breath and opened her mouth, “Okay,”  _ Where to begin?  _ “Who is this person?”

“My sister,” Lilith’s shoulders had tensed up and her eyes had flicked away from Amity as she said it- quickly returning back to her as she continued, “She is…  _ difficult _ at times, but she is also smart- frustratingly so- and she,” She frowned, “ _ We _ believe that she could help.”

_ Her sister _ . The witchling’s mind was racing- she had heard rumors of her mentor’s sister: the sister of the Head of The Emperor’s coven, the most wanted criminal on the Boiling Isles, the only witch to defy the Emperor and his coven system.  _ The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles. _ Amity was  _ really  _ curious now but- how could she help?

The older witch pursed her lips, “My sister is incredibly skilled at wild magic; the best- most likely only- practitioner of it, and she believes it could be what is affecting you. Or it plays a part in it at the very least.” 

Pink dusted Amity’s cheeks- she didn’t mean to say that outloud, it had just slipped out. Lilith didn’t seem to mind however. Despite how rude it had most likely sounded, her mentor had answered it calmly and evenly- like always- a far cry from her parents who would scoff or punish her for any “outburst” they deemed unnecessary. 

_ They were always unnecessary.  _

_ ‘Focus,’ _ She shook her head,  _ ‘Focus on here and now.’ _ Her hands gripped the staff- feeling the texture underneath her grip; smooth wood and a slight warmth from where her body heat had leached into it. Simple. Grounding. Not for the first time she reminded herself to thank Edric for teaching her that- to pull herself out of her mental spirals before they went too far. Having stopped her brain from devolving into painful memories, she refocused onto her mentor’s words; the words ‘Wild Magic’ stood out to her. She felt herself lean forward, as precarious as it was on the staff, “What  _ is  _ Wild Magic? I know a little about it but,” She thought back to her parents’ rants about the ridiculousness of dual track students being allowed at Hexside- ‘The school was becoming a criminal institution’ they’d said, “We never learn about it in detail in class, even in history we tend to avoid the topic.” 

Aquamarine eyes held Amity’s gaze, “Most people believe Wild Magic to be when a person doesn’t follow a coven- and while that  _ is _ part of it, it’s not all of it. Tell me what you know about how most people do magic.” 

“We learn spell circles- each of which has its own purpose and requirements- and bile from our bile sac is what allows us to carry out the spells.” Amity bit the inside of her lip,  _ ‘I didn’t forget anything did I?’ _

“Very good,” Lilith nodded, smiling proudly, “And that is one of the major differences of Wild Magic: practitioners don’t rely solely on their bile sac to cast magic. They have the ability to draw power from nature itself to boost their magics- as such they have the possibility of being very powerful witches. Additionally, some even have the ability to learn magic and spells from nature itself, this seems to be rare and difficult to do however.” 

Every one of Lilith’s words caught Amity’s attention more than the last; power from nature? Learning new magic? Her imagination was itching to be set free, to imagine the sort of things she could learn through Wild Magic. From her mentor’s sister.

Lilith seemed to notice her apprentices excitement and curiosity, swiftly adding on to her explanation, “Now, while Wild Magic has the potential to be very powerful and versatile, it also holds the potential to be incredibly dangerous,” Amity’s shoulders dipped slightly, “Because of how difficult Wild Magic is to control and the power it can create it has the ability to be damaging to any user who doesn’t know what they’re doing,” Lilith’s face grew grim- lips pursed tightly, “It can even kill any unprepared witch.”

She felt her ears drop along with her shoulders, Amity hadn’t thought of that- of course such a powerful form of magic would have risks. Still, the idea of learning more spells was one that Amity didn’t want to turn down, and they also had to figure out what was stopping her from casting spells.

_ That golden light and burning heat. _

She felt her mentor’s eyes on her, she needed to make her decision. The safer choice was to go to her mentor’s home, learn more spells as best she could with what was going on. But she felt incomplete without her magic, and if the Wild Witch could help her then she needed to take that opportunity. And if Lilith trusted her, then Amity would too.

“What do you wish to do, Amity?” The soft voice pulled Amity’s gaze back up from where her feet were swinging in the open air. The older witch’s eyebrows were drawn together, lips turned down ever so slightly.

“Can we visit your sister?” Amity’s voice was quiet but steady, sure of what she wanted to do. She watched her mentor’s face for any signs of displeasure- of annoyance or anything similar. There wasn’t any. Her expression was one of patience and pride. A small smile present on her lips.

“Of course”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HA HA! Finally got this posted! Sorry for the wait everyone but like I said, work and school are a pain.
> 
> Speaking of work and school, until I get either a break from school or fewer hours at work I think I'm going to change the update schedule to every other Tuesday as opposed to every Tuesday so that I can put in the amount of effort I think each chapter deserves. This chapter is a lot shorter than most of the other because of that but overall I'm fairly happy with the result.
> 
> Also I'm probably going to start writing and posting some one shots that I'll work on in between this story, and I also really want to write a series of stories that focus on the relationship between Amity and Lilith so I'll keep y'all posted on that.


	8. Chapter 8

Before Amity had touched down in front of the Wild Witch’s house, she had plenty of thoughts as to what it would look like and what she would be like. This woman was one of the most powerful witches on the Boiling Isles so surely she would have a grand estate- maybe comparable to her mentor’s own home? It wasn’t a far fetched idea to Amity’s mind; all throughout her life she had been taught to associate power with scale- the bigger the better. However, there was another part of her mind that argued the opposite. The woman was a criminal after all- the most wanted criminal in the land no less- so surely she’d live in something more modest to better hide from the authorities. 

However, when Amity finally caught sight of where the infamous Witch lived she decided that ‘modest’ was an…  _ understatement. _ It certainly wasn’t a  _ small _ house she supposed- she herself lived in a mansion and was used to seeing them so she didn’t have the best reference- but it certainly looked like it fit in among the trees. Weathered stone, rugged wood, and a decidedly older style all combined to give the building a unique look; it definitely fell into the latter category of where she thought the witch would live. Amity didn’t think that she would ever want to live here, but the more she looked at it the more she grew to like it- it had a certain character that her own home lacked.

The woman who answered the door was something else entirely. Even before it opened they could hear loud complaints and groans from the other side with a gruff yell of ‘Don’t wake Hooty’.  _ ‘Hooty?’ _ The green haired witchling looked at the older witch by her side in confusion, but she was too busy glaring daggers at the owl shaped face on the front door to notice. When it finally opened it showed a tall woman with untamed grey hair, skin as pale as her mentor’s, and a matching oversized sweater and mug that said ‘Thirty and Flirty’. 

The most wanted criminal on the Boiling Isles.

Amity found that hard to believe. 

While her mentor and her sister talked animatedly at the door Amity was allowed to enter the house and find somewhere to sit- Lilith had said they might be minute so she should try and get comfortable. Casting her gaze around the room she found herself in showed that the inside was as unique as the outside. There were candles strewn about, casting warm light around the room and making it feel warm and inviting- the light even caught the many things decorating the walls, adding a sparkling effect to the already flickering candle light. In fact, the walls had little free space left with all the decorations present: weapons, shelves, books, paintings, and a large portrait gave the witchling plenty to look at while she waited. 

The portrait took up most of the wall- hanging proudly behind a large, elegant red couch- with what seemed to be a stylised version of the witch who owned the house.  _ ‘It’s not a bad picture,’ _ Amity thought while between the picture and the witch herself- still talking with her mentor at the door. The two held more serious expressions now: eyebrows knit together and lips pursed as they talked, however she wasn’t able to make out what they were saying. Not wanting to be caught staring she returned her focus to the portrait; eyes wandering the picture until she saw the dark red words that shared space with the picture:  **“WANTED”** and  **“OWL LADY- REWARD”** . Her jaw dropped upon seeing the amount of money being offered for the woman’s capture.

One trillion snails. 

_ One.  _

_ Trillion.  _

_ Snails _ . 

Wide-eyed, Amity whipped her head to look at the so-called “Owl Lady”. Her mind replayed what she had heard before: the woman was the most wanted criminal on the Boiling Isles. ‘ _ For what?!’ _ She was somewhere between being baffled and awe struck,  _ ‘How does someone get a trillion snail bounty?!’ _ As she wracked her brain to try and come up with some way someone could tally up such an unimaginable bounty. 

As she stood there staring the two adults finished their conversation, turning to step into the house. The Owl Lady caught her staring. Her arms crossed over her chest and she raised an eyebrow, “What are ya lookin’ at kid?” 

“ _ Edalyn.” _ Her sister growled under her breath warningly.

“What?” The woman glanced over her shoulder, “You two woke me up, sorry if I’m in a grouchy mood. And she was staring.” She waved her hand flippantly before walking away from the other two, entering a connected room. Amity and Lilith’s gaze followed her as she left; one amazed, the other annoyed. 

Her mentor was busy muttering inaudibly so Amity looked back to the wall, eyes lingering on the wanted poster again before moving on to take in the other decorations. An axe, sword, a… skull? And-  _ ‘Is that a hand-’ _ Her eyebrows raised in alarm and she stepped away from the wall, “Miss Lilith is that a hand? On the wall?” She questioned as she shakily raised a finger to point at the morbid wall ornament. 

“ _Oh you have got to be kidding me…”_ Lilith sounded like- and judging from a glance backwards, looked like- she was already prepared to leave the house. She placed her hands on the witchling’s shoulders and steered her away from the wall and towards the room that her sister had disappeared into. When the two walked through the doorway their eyes landed on the other Clawthorne who was busy uncorking a bottle. “Edalyn!” Amity jumped under her mentor’s hands, her shoulders tense as her eyes snapped over her shoulder to look at Lilith. The older woman’s eyes softened and her face relaxed when Amity looked at her, “I’m sorry, I’ll try not to raise my voice again,” Her voice was soft again; like when they’d been talking on her palisman. After giving her shoulders a reassuring squeeze she returned her focus to the room’s other occupant, “Edalyn, please refrain from drinking _that_ in front of my ch- my student.” 

Amity was too preoccupied with the comforting weight on her shoulders to notice the other woman in the room raise an eyebrow at Lilith’s words- words that Amity herself didn’t hear after hearing her mentor apologise. There was a dull thunk as the bottle was placed back on the counter, “Alright Lily,” Eda drawled, “I won’t. Do you want some tea or something? Does your kid want any?” She didn’t wait for an answer; already moving to get the needed materials to brew both guests a cup. While her sister moved animatedly around the kitchen- talking to herself while she tried to figure where she put the tea pot- Lilith simply sighed and walked Amity and herself to the table to have a seat.

While the two guests waited for the tea to boil, silence fell over the room, interrupted only by the soft sounds of their host preparing ingredients and silverware. Amity busied herself by examining the room like she had earlier, staring out the large glass window present along the wall. The sun was coming up in earnest now, having almost reached its peak in the sky. She wondered- not for the first time- if she should change how she looks at the sun; it wasn’t  _ just _ the sun afterall. It was Luz. That energetic, hyper-curious, friendly ray of sunshine that had left her impression on Amity the first time they’d met. She felt a twinge in her chest, she felt bad- she’d promised to visit Luz as often as she could, but she’d been unable to for the past few days. She missed talking to her friend.

The corners of her mouth drooped and her gaze fell to her hands.  _ Friend. ‘Were the two of them even friends?’ _ Amity worried at her lip with her teeth- Luz probably didn’t even want to be her friend anymore; what with Amity seemingly ignoring her. She was probably angry with Amity; wouldn’t want to see her again.  _ ‘Good job Amity, messing up as usual.’ _

She was vaguely aware of something happening next to her, a chair being pulled out, someone sitting down. It wasn’t until a mug was slid in front of her that she broke her focus from the window. Steam was rising up in pale swirls, carrying the fragrant scent of the tea with it. She breathed deeply- savoring the smell and pulling the mug closer to her. 

“Alright kid,” Amity looked to the witch across from her, “I got the gist of the situation from Lily, but I think it’d be good to hear what you have to say. Anything you can tell me that your mentor didn’t already?” The older witch was leaning forward in her chair, one arm draped across the back of her chair with the other resting on the table. 

Idly, Amity noticed how bright the woman’s eyes were- a strikingly vibrant yellow. Hugging the mug to her chest, her eyes flitted from the witch in front of her to the one next to her and back, “I’m not sure- what do you want to know?” She didn’t know what the witch already knew- if her mentor had told her all that  _ she  _ knew, then the Owl Lady was as knowledgeable as they were. She raised the tea to her lips only for it stop halfway, ‘ _ They don’t know everything,’  _ Amity’s eyes widened, her knuckles went white as her hand tensed,  _ ‘I never told Miss Lilith about Luz.’ _

“Well it looks like she thought of something,” Eda grinned and leaned further across the table, “C’mon kid out with it, what did you think of?” The woman’s tiredness from earlier was gone- replaced with a curiosity and excitement like that of an enthusiastic kid. 

“Edalyn, give the poor girl time to think- titan knows she doesn’t need you pressuring her on top of everything else.” Her mentor’s voice spoke up from Amity’s right, where she was holding a hand out to calm her sister. 

Wood creaked as the other Clawthorne sister leaned back in her chair, throwing her arms in the air, “What? It’s not my fault a demon’s got her tongue-”

“ _ THE KING OF DEMONS DOES NOT TAKE TONGUES!” _

Amity jumped like she’d been electrocuted. China clattered against wood- tea sloshed out of her mug and onto the table. Her heart hammered as she took a deep breath,  _ ‘Who in the world was that?’ _ In her peripheral vision she could see that her mentor had been surprised by the sudden outburst as well- a hand on her chest and eyes flitting around trying to find the source of the noise. 

“Who was  _ that- _ do you have someone else living here Edalyn?” Wood creaked as Lilith leaned sideways in her chair to look past her sister, searching for the person she was convinced was in the other room.

In response, her sister just waved her hand lazily, “Oh that’s just King- you can ignore him. Now focus-” The hand she’d just used to wave away Lilith’s question cut through the air, stopping to point at Amity, “What did you just remember? Something important right- it’d have to be with that face you just pulled.”

Amity twisted the toe of her boot into the floor and averted her eyes from the witch in front of her- choosing instead to look into the remnants of the tea left in her cup. How was she supposed to tell them about Luz?  _ What  _ would she tell them? She could hardly believe it herself and she had experienced it firsthand!  _ ‘I got lost in the woods chasing something that looked like it was on fire, but it turned out to be a person who was  _ made  _ of fire who  _ also _ happened to be the spirit of the sun who liked to wander the Boiling Isles at night.’ _ Ridiculous. 

Gently, the tea cup was pulled from her hands and out of her view- she stared at the hand in front of her before following the arm upwards until she met the aquamarine eyes of her mentor. She wondered briefly where her cup had gone before her ears picked up the sound of a kettle being moved and tea being poured, “Amity? Amity you have to tell us everything you can about this- I understand it might make you uncomfortable and I hate to ask this of you but we may not find a solution otherwise.” Amity wished her mentor’s words weren’t so spot on. Maybe it was selfish, or paranoid, but she didn’t  _ want _ to tell them about Luz, she wanted to keep the knowledge of Luz to herself- she couldn’t help but remember when she’d told her parents about Willow and the consequences of that. No matter how different she knew her mentor to be from her parents she couldn’t shake that fear.

“... I know.” The girl’s shoulders slumped as she acknowledged the elder witch’s words. She’d have to tell her mentor about Luz, but she was  _ not _ going to lose Luz like she’d lost Willow- her parents weren’t going to take another friend from her. Her mind made up, she met her mentor’s gaze, “But can I ask you to make a promise?”

Lilith’s head tilted slightly, cocked to the side in response to the unusual request. “Of course.” 

“Promise me that you won’t tell my parents  _ anything _ about this,” Her voice was strong as she started, certain in the importance of what she was saying but as her sentence came to an end that certainty wavered, “Please?” 

Silence reigned for seconds that felt like hours. Amity held her breath while her mentor seemed to study her face. Cloth rustled as Lilith raised her hand. “Would you like to shake on it?” She was giving her apprentice a warm smile- one that immediately put Amity at ease and loosened the tension she hadn’t realized had built up in her shoulders. Upon placing her hand in her mentor’s, a wave of magic rippled through her body- one that made her jaw drop as she realised what spell had just been cast.

_ ‘An everlasting oath?’ _ Amity’s eyes were wider than dinnerplates when the thought raced through her mind.

“That’s right,” Her smile grew a fraction as she winked conspiratorially, “I did promise didn’t I?”

At that moment the other occupant of the room sat back down, sliding a fresh mug of tea across the wooden table to Amity. “Alright kid,” The Owl Lady leaned forward once again, “Whaddya got?”

Pulling in a deep breath Amity began explaining everything- starting at the beginning and leaving out nothing save for her personal feelings about Luz. She still felt a shadow of unease as she told the story, but knowing that she had Lilith on her side gave her the determination to follow through- no matter what came next. Throughout the whole story The Owl Lady never once interrupted, never once asked her to repeat anything, and never once acted as if Amity had gone insane. She just listened intently, all her focus on the young girl. 

Finally, Amity finished her story. The final words hung in the air between the three witches as the weight of it sank in. The silence had almost become unbearable before it was broken by the witch across the table, “Well. That’s certainly a lot to take in.” She stood from the table, bright yellow eyes shutting as she stretched and joints popped. After giving a relieved sigh the witch held out her hand- arm extended in anticipation of the the staff that eventually flew into it. Her gaze swept from Amity to Lilith, gold tooth bared in an excited smile, “So where do we begin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back! Oh my god this chapter was so much fun to write and I feel really proud of it honestly- plus there were so many sections that I loved writing. My favorites were probably when Amity read the bounty on Eda's poster and when King decided to interrupt their serious discussion. And on a side note- Eda's bounty is literally one trillion snails, I counted the zeroes on the poster in Eda's living room. Is Belos just being petty with her bounty or has she actually done enough crimes to warrant that? 
> 
> I've also noticed that there has been a distinct lack of Luz since the first few chapters but that will be remedied with the next chapter! 
> 
> Thank you all for reading, thank you all for commenting, and I hope you all have a wonderful day! Stay safe!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys aren't allowed to be mad at me for this chapter- it has a happy ending I promise

Their starting point was Eda examining the effects that casting spells had on Amity, seeing for herself the glowing light and feeling the burning heat. Eda had instructed Amity to cast the easiest spell she knew, and Lilith had added that she should stop the spell the  _ second _ it became too much to bear. So Amity had begun to cast light spells- only able to get halfway through them before having to cut each one short, panting as the spell circles fizzled out. 

Her gaze was fixed on her hands, watching as the light slowly faded away from under her skin- starting at her wrists and dissipating towards her fingers. The heat was slower to disappear however, lingering long after the glow had disappeared- like a stone that had absorbed the heat of the sun. The feeling would be relaxing if it weren’t for the searing pain that always followed. Flexing her once again normal looking hand she cast her gaze across the clearing towards where the other two occupants were brainstorming while Amity rested.

Her mentor was stood in the center of the clearing talking with her sister. The two had been standing and going back and forth for a few minutes, and while Amity didn’t know what the two were saying, she did know that Eda seemed to be winning. Or she was making good points to Lilith, Amity couldn’t tell. The raven haired witch had been casting glances back to the witchling every so often; eyebrows pinched and lips pursed. Finally- after what appeared to be a lengthy debate- her mentor bowed her head and her shoulders sagged as she gave in to what her sister was saying. A couple more soft words exchanged and the two turned to rejoin the younger witch. 

The two came to a stop a few feet in front of Amity, looking at her where she sat on a fallen log. Eda stepped forward to gaze down at the girl, mouth in a flat line and arms crossed. “Okay kid,” She began, voice serious, “I think I may have an idea here. First off I’m going to assume my sister taught you to do magic the same way she does it: total control, not taking risks, an emphasis on perfection?” Ticking off each value on her fingers while she talked, eyes meeting Amity’s after she finished, “Does that sound right?” When the girl gave a slow, tentative nod the woman sighed and shook her head.

With a frown on her face Amity unsurely asked, “Is that a bad thing?” The older witch had been spot on with her assumption- so much so that it made her nervous. All of those ideas had been stressed to Amity from a young age, first by her parents in relation to how she had to live her life, then in relation to magic by Lilith- albeit in a much more constructive way.

“By itself no,” She looked skyward as she bit her lip in thought, “How to explain this-” Casting her gaze over her shoulder and back to Amity, the woman raised her hand to gesture for the witchling to follow her. Not looking back to see if Amity was following, Eda marched back to the center of the clearing, “When it comes to different types of magic witches have to learn slightly different techniques to use them: oracle magic uses different techniques to healing magic, and those are different from illusion magic- you get the idea. The differences are pretty small but they’re there- alright stand there,” Holding up her hand to stop the girl where she stood, “Now while those magics  _ do  _ have differences between them, you don’t have to learn those differences to use the specific magic- only if you want to master it. Wild magic, however, is completely different.” Her eyes slid shut as a look of calm focus came over the woman’s face. 

Amity’s gaze was focused on the older witch as she spoke. The gears in her head were turning; trying to figure out where the woman was going with her lesson. The witchling’s mint haired head tilted, and as if she could sense her confusion and anticipation Eda continued; answering Amity’s question before it was asked.

“You can’t  _ control  _ it, like you would for any other type of magic.” Lifting her hand she began to draw a gleaming yellow spell circle, “With any other magic, total control is achievable- even wanted- but with Wild magic it’s the exact last thing you want. The more you try to control it, the more it fights back.” She caught the witchling’s startled look as her eyes slid open; the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile at the expression, “Surprised? You’ve experienced it.” Her sentence finished at the same time as her spell circle and a gleaming ball of light blinked into existence between the two witches. 

Memories flooded Amity’s head: the first time her spells burned in class, when she’d run to Miss Lilith’s office, today. Every time she’d cast a spell- every time she’d felt the heat- she’d responded by bearing down on the magic, trying to tighten her grip on the uncontrollable sensation, only for it to get worse. Her hand flexed at the thought. “But… What else is there? How else are you supposed to do magic?” Control- that’s what had gotten her so far in life, what had gotten her to the top of her class, what had earned the approval of every adult she’d ever met.  _ What was she supposed to do if control was the wrong answer? _

“Kid,” A hand rested on her shoulder, “Sometimes you just have to know when to let go- when to take a step back, and go with the flow. I know you’re strong and smart- my sister wouldn’t be teaching you otherwise- but no one can control everything.” The words hit a chord with Amity, striking at all the fears, all the worries that had assailed her on a daily basis. “Now come on,” The woman jerked her head for Amity to follow, “Let’s get started.” The two moved to face each other in the center of the clearing, a few feet between them as they prepared to start. “Alright kid- remember what I told you.” 

Nodding her head sharply Amity closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she began to draw her spell circle. The circle started to manifest without issue- the vibrant pink of the circle following her finger as she traced it through the air. Everyone in the clearing held their breath as the circle passed the halfway point- the light softly glowed to life under the young witch’s skin. The tension could’ve been cut with a knife. The circle neared completion- the light flickered, briefly glowing brighter before dimming once again. Amity’s eyes opened, staring in excitement as she was about to finish the spell.

Light flared- her eyes slammed shut. It was like the sun had appeared before her, it bled through her eyelids and stung her eyes. Then her hand seized; it was _on_ _fire._ All the previous spells she’d cast paled in comparison to this- her brain registered that someone was screaming in pain as she clutched her hand to her chest and she curled around it. 

_ “AMITY!”  _ Her mentor screamed her name but it was as if it was miles away. Footsteps pounded towards her.

A fresh wave of pain seared through Amity, one that left her gasping for air. Tears flowed down her face- it just hurt  _ so. Much _ . 

_ “Lily no!” _ A sound like a scuffle reached Amity’s ears as did yells for Eda to let Lilith go- to let her help Amity. “ _ Don’t! _ Kid- kid listen to me! You’re hurting yourself more! Don’t try to control it- let it go!” The girl’s eyes blinked open, trying to find where the older witches were through the blur of tears. “Ki-  _ Amity! _ You’ve got it on a leash-  _ let it go! Let  _ it  _ finish the spell!”  _ Strain was laced throughout the older woman’s voice- from yelling at Amity or from holding back her sister. Amity didn’t know.

_ Let it go.  _ Amity grit her teeth- forcing her arm to extend outwards.  _ Let it finish the spell. _ She blinked more tears out of her eyes, feeling them make tracks down her cheeks. Her finger traced another spell circle- shaking the whole way. The pain only grew- the light only got brighter. The circle was almost done. 

She imagined a leash.

And let it go.

In an instant everything changed, and Amity was aware of every moment of it. The fire under her skin surged forward; focusing itself in her finger. The light faded for a heartbeat before it reappeared in the spell circle- the pink surged and veins of fire spread throughout it. Amity spared a brief thought of how beautiful it looked before her legs gave out and her body pitched forward.

~~~~~~~~~~

When Amity had begun to scream Lilith had panicked. Her feet rushed her forward, her throat cried out the girl’s name. She felt as if her heart was going to pound out of her chest while she fought against Eda holding her back- her apprentice was  _ screaming _ and  _ in pain _ ; her quiet, soft spoken, bright eyed girl was  _ hurting _ . 

The silence that reigned now was suffocating. All the screaming from Amity, all the yelling from Lilith and Eda- all of it was gone now. Not even the wind saw fit to disturb the quiet. 

The gazes of both witches were focused on where Amity had stood- stunned by what they saw. An abomination- twice the size of her apprentice and giving off licks of vibrant pink flames- was holding the girl in its arms, kneeling down as it clutched her to its chest. 

_ ‘Amity summoned that. _ ’ A faint smile turned Lilith’s lips as pride surged through her- she’d done it! ‘ _ Amity had harnessed the Wild magic!’  _

The flash of pride was dashed immediately as her eyes fell to the limp form of her apprentice. Her eyes widened as she pushed through her sister’s arms. “Amity!?  _ Amity?! _ ” She fell to her knees in front of the abomination, ignoring the stones and dirt that scraped at her dress. Her hands found the girl’s face- cradling her head as Lilith called her name again and again. Finally,  _ finally _ , the girl reacted. A small groan came from her lips as her eyes squeezed tighter before slowly sliding open.

“Miss Lilith?” Her voice was hoarse, scratchy, and the poor girl looked absolutely exhausted. “Did I do it?”

Lilith nodded fervently- pulling Amity into as tight a hug as she could give and holding the girl’s head to her shoulder. “You did, you really did,” She pulled back, wiping away Amity’s tears with the pads of her thumbs, “Just look at it Amity! You did this-” She waved to the unique abomination that watched unblinkingly, “You did  _ all  _ this! It’s incredible!” The girl gave a soft smile as her eyes found the abomination and she poked it wearily.

“That’s right kid.” Eda had stepped closer during the other two’s exchange, smiling as she looked between the two witches. “You’re a damn powerful witch.” She placed her hand on Lilith’s shoulder, giving her a meaningful look before stepping back and walking towards the house to let them have their moment.

Amity watched Eda’s back as she walked away, eyes wide and mouth open in shock. When she turned to look back at Lilith, new tears were welling in her eyes; Lilith wiped away these ones too once they began to fall. “She’s right you know, you  _ are _ an incredible witch.” She whispered softly. 

This time, Amity threw her arms around Lilith and pulled the older witch down to bury her face in her shoulder- surprising the older witch before she returned the gesture. They sat like that for a long time, embracing each other in the center of the clearing. It wasn’t long; however, until Lilith realised Amity’s breathing had evened out and she’d fallen asleep. Smiling once more at her apprentice Lilith pulled her closer, gathering the girl in her arms before standing to carry her inside. Her steps were slow and light so as not to wake her cargo, and Lilith was glad that Eda had left the door to her house open when she’d come in earlier. Readjusting Amity in her arms so that she could close the door, Lilith caught sight of the abomination still in the center of the clearing. It had begun to melt away as Amity was no longer focusing on keeping it around, but as it sank into the ground it gave Lilith a happy smile and a small wave. The witch waved back, and didn’t shut the door until the abomination had fully dissipated. 

After the door finally clicked shut Lilith turned, walking to the couch and carefully depositing Amity onto it.  _ ‘She deserves her rest.’  _ She smiled down at the sleeping girl before turning her head to see Eda leaning her shoulder on the doorway to the kitchen.

Eda grinned, “Special kid you got there.”

Lilith smiled, “She really is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's another chapter! Hope you all enjoy this one, it didn't have any Luz in it (my bad) because I thought the ending of this chapter was too perfect to not end on- next chapter will be very focused on Luz though! Promise!
> 
> As a side note: this is not at all what I had in mind when I first started writing this story (it was originally going to take the whole Icarus thing very seriously) but I liked where it was going and here we are. Also I've already got an idea for what I'm going to write after this story is done, but that will only be after this one is completely finished. 
> 
> Also does anyone want to give a name suggestion for the abomination Amity summons? I know it only appears in literally one line of dialogue but I've gone and gotten attached to it and I feel it deserves a name- it's gonna be coming back later.
> 
> I always have so many things I want to put in these notes but then when I go to post the chapter my mind goes blank; hope is doing well, stay safe, and have a good day!


	10. Chapter 10

The forest was fascinating to Luz. It was her favorite place to go when she went below the horizon. There always seemed to be an abundance of things to hold her attention: wild creatures, stunning plants, and- every so often- people. Those were her favorite things to see in the woods. They were all so unique, each one fascinating and amazing in their own way- even if Luz had never been able to get near them.

Then she met Amity. The first witch she’d ever interacted with- the first witch she’d actually  _ wanted  _ to interact with. All the others she saw she was content to observe from afar as they came and went, but there was something different about Amity that Luz felt as soon as she got near. 

Her magic was always untamable, always flowing around her and through her in ways that mimicked the light she cast. However, on the night she met Amity it was like her magic found something to focus on- something that called it. She’d felt the change right away but didn’t know what caused it, it had seemed to change in intensity as she moved through the woods- pushing and pulling her in different directions as she searched for it. Then she’d spied lights through the trees- ones she hadn’t made. Upon closer inspection they turned out to be floating orbs of light, tinged a rich green, that hovered above a young witch.

When her eyes fell on Amity her magic jumped, reaching out for the girl. When she’d healed her leg she had no idea what she was doing- she simply felt that her magic wanted to do  _ something _ and she trusted it to help. And it did. After that night the two had become friends- spending long hours talking to each other well into the night.

It had been a few days since they’d seen each other last, but Luz was fine with that, she knew Amity was probably a busy person, doing whatever it was that witches did. But now Luz was back to having no one to talk to as she wandered through the woods.

A twig snapped somewhere in the distance and Luz’s head turned at the sound. When she caught the sound of grumbling she grinned- maybe she would have something to do after all!  _ ‘No one usually comes this far into the woods!’ _ Wheeling around on one foot she began rushing towards the origin of the sound. She knew it wasn’t Amity- her magic wasn’t reacting at all to this person’s presence- it was someone new that had wandered into the forest this time.

After ducking and twisting through branches she came upon where the newcomer was standing- a tall woman with gray hair- staring at the trees around her. Ducking back behind the tree she clung to, Luz began racking her brain on how to introduce herself to the newcomer. “Hi my name’s Luz, what’s yours?” She muttered under her breath,  _ ‘No that’s not good,’  _ She rubbed her forehead, “Nice to meet you, my name is Luz!”

“You do know I can hear you right?” Luz jumped at the sudden voice, “I can see you too. You’re not exactly subtle.”

Peering around the trunk of the tree Luz saw for herself that: yes the woman was indeed looking right at her. She stepped into the open sheepishly and gave the woman an embarrassed smile, “Nice to meet you Luz, what’s my name-” The woman in front of her snorted, Luz stopped, “Wait that’s not right.”

At this the grey-haired lady began laughing wildly, clutching her stomach as she doubled over with laughter. Luz rubbed the back of her head self-consciously, chuckling along with the woman. The two stood there laughing for a minute in the silence of the forest as Luz felt her nerves from earlier disappear. “Oh, ooh, you really messed that up didn’t you,” The lady snorted again, wiping a tear from her eye, “Ah that’s funny. Ahem, anyway- nice to meet you Luz, name’s Eda.”

“It’s nice to meet you too! Not a lot of people come out this far into the woods,” Her head tilted to one side while she examined the newcomer, “Soooo whatcha doin’ out here?” Luz’s feet had started lightly bouncing in anticipation.

“Well I was looking for you but you ended up finding me funnily enough- really saved me a lot of trouble with that by the way.” The woman was examining Luz in the same way Luz was examining her, and while she seemed nice enough her words put Luz on edge.

_ ‘Looking for me?’ _ How did she even know about her existence? Sure Luz was fairly easy to spot, but she was always careful to not be seen and she never strayed out of the forest! She could count the amount of people who knew about her on one hand- one finger honestly- and none of them were the lady in front of her, “Looking for me? Why?” The clearing grew silent again as her feet stopped their bouncing.

The woman- Eda- ran a hand through her hair, “Because you seem to have had a major impact on your friend and we need you to help figure out how far it goes.” She levelled an even look towards Luz, “The name ‘Amity’ ring a bell?” 

She sucked in a lungful of air, what was this lady talking about?  _ ‘Amity? Help?’ _ What happened to her- and how was she supposed to know how to help? “I know her,” Leaves crunched underfoot as she took a step back, “But I  _ don’t  _ know what you’re talking about or how bells are involved.” 

“Listen,” She exhaled as she rubbed her temples with one hand, “Forget the bell thing- not important- what is important is that your friend is being affected by  _ something _ , probably you, and you’re the only one who can help us right now.” Eda then grabbed the staff that had been standing at her side, spinning it before hitting the base against the ground, “So are you gonna help or not? I’ve had a long day kid.”

“Is Amity in danger?” That one thought had Luz’s metaphorical heart racing.

Eda shrugged, “She was. Probably still is to some extent.”

Upon hearing that Luz made up her mind, “Ok,” Determination took over her features, “Take me to Amity.”

Without a word, Eda snapped her fingers and the staff in her hands seemingly activated, moving to float a few feet off the ground. Luz wanted to admire the action, but she’d have to save her curiosity for later. “Hop on, we’ve got a short flight ahead of us.” 

After the two boarded the staff- a palisman Luz would later learn- Eda kicked off the ground and they ascended into the sky. They flew with their feet skimming the treetops and the wind in their hair. Luz had to admit, she loved the feeling. During their flight Eda had filled her in on some of the important details: Amity’s struggle to cast spells, the change in her magic that Lilith had noticed. Luz had no idea how that involved her, but she had to make sure Amity was ok.

When they touched down in a clearing in front of a house, Luz knew immediately that Amity was inside. Her magic was focused again, reaching out towards the green haired witch in the same way it did when they first met. Now though the pull was stronger, more apparent. 

_ ‘What happened?’ _

Luz’s thinking was cut short when Eda opened the door to the home, allowing her a view of the two occupants. The first was Amity, wrapped in a blanket and drinking something from a mug while she sat on the couch. The other was another person Luz had never met- she was tall and pale like Eda, but had black hair in contrast with Eda’s white. Two pairs of eyes locked onto her as she stepped through the door: one guarded, one excited.

“Luz!” Amity’s ears twitched and her eyes widened, “You’re here!”

Luz raised her hand and gave an excited wave, “Hi Amity! How are you feeling?” She made to step closer but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

“Not so fast kid, you two can catch up later but right now we have work to do.” The black haired lady nodded in agreement with Eda’s statement. Eda gestured to an open chair, pushing Luz to sit in it. “Alright, Lily do you want to get started? I need some tea to keep me awake.” 

The other woman- ‘Lily’ Eda had called her- fixed Luz with a critical look, looking as if she were taking her apart in her mind. “Your name is Luz, correct?” Luz nodded slowly and Lilith hummed to herself, “What has Eda told you so far?”

Seeing Amity smile reassuringly Luz quickly recounted everything she’d been told on the way there, finishing as Eda stepped back into the room, mug in hand. 

Lilith nodded along as Luz spoke, leaning back in her chair once she stopped talking, “Hmm. That’s a good summary of it, however there is some more to it.” She picked up where Eda had left off, perfectly answering all the questions that Eda had left her with and a few that Luz thought of on the spot. 

Luz had to sit silently for a few seconds, taking in all the information she’d just heard. The silence pressed in on her and she couldn’t help but feel guilty at all she’d put Amity through. “I- I’m sorry Amity,” Her eyes found the green-haired witch, “If I knew that would happen…” She sniffed and looked down to her feet.

Amity and Lilith shared a look that the sun spirit couldn’t see, Lilith nodding at Amity’s silent question. The sound of shuffling feet caused Luz to raise her head, Amity was standing in front of her now and she took Luz’s hand in one of her own. “It’s not your fault Luz- neither one of us could have known this would happen.” Amity didn’t meet her gaze, instead looking at their entwined hands- her cheeks were turning red too, Luz would have to ask if that meant anything. “And even if, even if I knew this would happen I wouldn’t change anything.”

Some feeling that Luz didn’t recognize grew in her chest, and her face broke out into a wide smile, “Aw, thank you Amity-”

“Alright you two that’s enough touchy-feely stuff, sit back on the couch kid.” Eda gestured to Amity who reluctantly dropped Luz’s hand and shuffled back to her spot on the couch, face even more red than before,  _ ‘I hope she’s feeling alright.’ _ Eda dropped into a chair across from Luz, groaning as she did, “Until we know whatever’s going on with you isn’t going to get worse, you two have to make sure to keep some distance between you.”

When Amity and Luz shared a saddened look Lilith chimed in, “This is just a precaution until we have a handle on the situation,” She looked to Amity, “And that entails you learning how to control Wild Magic to a greater degree.” 

“Or you learning how to regulate your magic output.” Eda added, pointing to Luz with a tired hand. Lilith nodded in agreement at her sister’s words.

Luz furrowed her brows, confused, “Magic output?” She looked between the two older witches who shared an incredulous look between themselves, “What’s that mean?”

Eda groaned, dragging a hand down her face and muttering about how she could be asleep right now. “Magic output,” Lilith began, giving her sister a pointed look, “Is the energy given off by magical sources- with witches this usually only happens when they cast spells- but seeing as you’re…  _ unique, _ you’re constantly giving off magic.”

“Unique?”

“She means you’re an anomaly kid,” Eda supplied, “You are literally raw Wild Magic given form, you give off magic like a forest fire gives off heat. No one’s ever seen that before.”

Luz’s mouth opened in a silent ‘o’ shape and she looked to Amity- the distance between them made sense now, but if that was the case the why…

“If I have to be far away from Luz, how can you two sit right next to her?” Amity’s head was tilted to one side as she looked to where the three sat around the table they’d dragged into the living room.

“The two of us have enough experience to deal with it without it impacting us,” Lilith gestured to Eda, “Eda allows it to flow through her and out,” She placed her hand on her own chest, “And I can close myself off to it entirely.” 

Amity nodded in understanding, “But since I don’t know how to do that I need to keep my distance.”

“Precisely.”

Luz jumped to her feet, “So what about me? What can I do to help?” 

“You need to learn control,” Eda’s grumpy voice piped up, “Only thing we can think of to try and solve this.” 

“Alright, where do we begin?”

Lilith raised her hand to stop Luz- who sat back down, embarrassed- and turned to her sister. The two were leaned close together exchanging hushed words. Eda gave Lilith a look which Lilith responded to with a small nod and a hand on her shoulder. After a couple more exchanged words Eda rose to her feet, joints popping as she stretched her arms above her head. “Alright you two,” She gave Luz and Amity pointed looks which were only slightly diminished by the exhaustion on her face, “I’m going to bed, Lily’s in charge- you two better listen to her.”

The two nodded and Eda turned her back and dragged herself up the stairs, talking to herself under her breath. They watched her until she was out of sight, Luz turning to Lilith once she couldn't hear the steps on the stairs, “Umm, Lily,” Lilith jolted at the sound of her nickname being said by someone other than Eda, “What do we do now?”

Lilith drew in a deep breath and pressed her lips into a thin line, “First off, only Eda is allowed to call me Lily, you may call me Lilith or Ms.Clawthorne.” She then stood abruptly, calling her palisman to her, “Second, I need you to swear to pay attention to what I tell you when I’m teaching. Can you do that?”

She waited for Luz to nod before she continued, “Good. Now, I need to step outside to set up preparations for our training session,” She looked between the two, “I’d ask that you two please keep your distance as much as possible until I return.” She looked pointedly at Luz until she nodded, then she turned to Amity who nodded as well. Lilith’s eyes softened when she looked at Amity, and she rested her hand on the girl’s head when she walked past the couch.

The two waited until the door shut.

Luz looked to Amity with raised eyebrows. “She’s scary.”

Amity giggled, Luz’s heart soared, “She can be,” Her eyes found the door again, “But she’s really not as bad as you think.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Work and school: the banes of my existence. Also the reason why this chapter is a day late, I really needed the extra day to get this to where I wanted it. I'm really happy with how it turned out and I'm glad that I finally brought Luz back into the story, she's honestly so much fun to write.
> 
> We're learning a bit more about Luz and what's happened with Amity, but there's still a lot more they don't know. All I'm gonna say. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting, I hope you all have a great day/night! Stay safe!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry to anyone who was waiting for this story to get updated, I had meant to take a break from posting for one week during the holidays, then that turned into two, and now we're here two months later with a new chapter. Sorry again. 
> 
> Anyway I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it was a struggle to write after not writing anything for so long (it's also hard to write for a story that's had no prior planning, who knew?) but I'm fairly happy with the result.
> 
> (also this takes place like a week-ish after the last chapter)

Luz was amazing.

Of course, Amity had known this from the beginning- how could she not? The first thing anyone would notice is her on-fire-ness and the waves of magic rolling off of her, but disregard all that and Luz was still one of a kind. Luz’s smile was blinding, her laugh infectious, her mind sharper than you’d think upon first impression, and her personality was enthusiastic and caring. It all inspired such volatile feelings in Amity that she hadn’t known what to do about them.

_ Amity hadn’t known how hard it would be to just. Knock on her sister’s door, but here she was with her hand raised in the hall outside Emira’s room- where she’d been standing for ages.  _

_ ‘Maybe I should just go to bed- Emira’s probably asleep anyway.’ Shoulders drooping and hand falling to her side Amity turned to walk away, back through the hall until she came to her own door. Her feet stayed rooted to the ground, not moving where her brain wanted them to go. _

_ Her teeth ground together in frustration, ‘Why is this so difficult?’ She dragged a hand down her face and glanced back to the door, ‘It’s one question! One! It shouldn’t be this hard!’ _

_ “Mittens?” The door had swung open to be replaced by Emira with a worried confused expression, “Why aren’t you in bed? Don’t you always complain about us keeping you awake?” _

_ Amity’s shoulders had shot up to her ears as she jumped in shock. Eyes wide and hands flailing, “Em- Emira! Hi- uh- it’s nothing, nothing at all- actually I was just-”  _

_ This wasn’t helping, hadn’t she wanted to ask her sister a question anyway? Well now she was right here, looking at her with furrowed eyebrows and narrowed eyes.  _

_ It took all of the witchling’s focus and determination to stop her rambling and heave a large sigh, before breathing in and beginning again, “Actually,” Her shoulders sagged as she rubbed her palms together and looked anywhere but her sister’s face, “I had wanted to ask you something.” _

_ Wordlessly, her older sister gestured her into her room, stepping aside to allow her in. The room was similar to Amity’s, just with a larger bed and a vanity with a massive mirror above it. Emira gently pushed her to sit at the vanity while she took a seat at the edge of her bed, stifling a yawn as she did so, “So what’s up?” _

_ Fidgeting silently for a few seconds, Amity took her time piecing together what she wanted to say- thank goodness her sister knew to be patient, “Well, do you remember that friend I have? The one who healed my ankle?” _

_ Upon hearing that, Emira’s eyes widened before narrowing again as she sat up a little straighter, “Yeah?”  _

_ “W-well, whenever I’m around them I get these… feelings? I don’t- don’t really know how to explain it.” _

_ Emira’s eyebrows were steadily rising to her hairline while Amity spoke, and she leaned forward with a smirk on her face, “Feelings? What  _ kind  _ of feelings?” _

_ “I don’t- I don’t know,” She could feel her face reddening as she fought the urge to flap her hands, “My heart goes really fast and I always blush really easy whenever they’re around and-” _

_ “...And?” Her sister quirked an eyebrow, reaching out to place a gentle hand on the younger girl’s knee. _

_ Amity deflated at the touch and continued in a voice that was little more than a whisper, “And it’s so much different than what I felt with Willow.” _

_ The older witch pursed her lips in thought, giving a soft ‘hmm’ as she did. She leaned forward more to catch Amity’s eyes, “Well Willow was your friend right?” A small nod in response, “And that was it?” Another nod. Leaning back to rest her weight on the bed Emira was quiet, deep in thought for long enough Amity could’ve believed she’d fallen asleep- except she wouldn’t do that.  _

_ “Well Mittens,” Amity looked up, gold eyes meeting gold eyes, “It sounds like you have a crush.” _

“...ity? Amity? Amity!” Without warning a bright orange hand was waving in front of Amity’s face, giving off enough light for Amity to see stars.

Blinking away the spots in her eyes, the mint haired girl came to a stop. After they’d readjusted- and she was no longer in danger of going blind- she turned to her companion, realizing a second too late how close she’d gotten. Amity was nearly crossed eyed looking at Luz.

Luz’s eyes were wide and concern was etched across her face as she took in Amity’s rapidly heating face, “Are you okay? You looked like you were thinking real hard about something and you looked kinda mad.” As she spoke her head tilted to one side and  _ titan _ it was unfair how much she looked like a puppy in that moment.

“O-Oh it’s nothing, I’m fine, really- honestly couldn’t be better,” Chuckling awkwardly, Amity leaned back as far as she could to put some distance between the two. Her eyes wouldn’t stop moving- glancing away from Luz to take in the trees over her shoulder just to snap back to meet the other girl’s gaze and repeat the process. Amity rubbed the back of her neck when she saw Luz’s eyes narrow a fraction, “Anyway, wha- what were you saying again? It sounded like you were telling an interesting story.” She was eager to get the attention off of her.

Unfortunately it didn’t look like her attempt to shift Luz’s focus had worked. She had responded with another head tilt and by leaning closer to the witch with her eyebrows furrowed. A beat of silence stretched into two, then, “Your ears are turning red.” An embarrassed squeak pulled itself from Amity’s throat, “Now your face is turning red!”

Amity had to fight down the urge to bury her face in her hands. Luz’s expression of open curiosity and awe combined with her  _ very _ close proximity and overall effect on Amity was making the witch’s heart do somersaults in her chest.

“How d’you do that? Is that something that witches do?” Luz’s eyes widened and bounced on the balls of her feet as she gasped in excitement, “I’ve seen you do it before too- is it a kind of magic?”

_ ‘Oh Titan please kill me now.’  _ Amity tried to get a grip on her racing heart and warm face, trying to come up with some way to answer the other’s questions. Why couldn’t Amity be back at home right now? 

Right, because she’d wanted to walk back home with Luz after their lessons with Miss Lilith and the Owl Lady. Honestly she could only blame herself.

How was she to explain this? “Well, it’s- it’s not magic,” Luz had stopped her bouncing but was still much too close for Amity’s heart. Amity gulped, “Uh, it’s called blushing- and it happens for a bunch of different reasons!” That was enough right? She didn’t have to say anything else did she?

The forest around them was devoid of any and all sound save for the wind through the branches and the racing pulse that Amity hoped only she could hear. She forced her eyes to stay on Luz’s, determined to not look away. If she acted confident enough maybe Luz wouldn’t say anything.

“What kind of reasons?” 

_...Dang it. _

“Exertion, stress, um, it can happen if we’re sick or angry…” 

Luz looked less curious now, instead her eyebrows were knitted together and she was frowning in concern, “That doesn’t sound good- are you feeling okay?” She leaned even closer and poked at Amity’s cheek with a finger, “Are you stressed?”

“N-not right now.”

Her eyes widened as her mouth parted slightly, “You’re not sick are you?”

“No?”

“But then that would mean… Oh,” Luz frowned and leaned back, looking downcast, “Then that would mean you’re mad. Are you mad at me?” Her voice wasn’t much more than a murmur in the quiet woods.

“Wha-” Amity had messed up. She made Luz think she was mad at her and now she was looking like she wasn’t far from crying and Amity felt bad and now she had to backtrack- how did she ruin the happy atmosphere just like that?! “No! No no no- I’m not mad at you, I’m not mad at anyone, it’s just there are a bunch of reasons witches do that and I’m so sorry I promise I’m not mad at you.” Her hands had found their way to her friend’s shoulders, holding tight and hoping the gesture was comforting the way it was when Amity’s siblings did it to her.

Slowly Luz’s chin lifted to meet Amity’s gaze, and there was still uncertainty in her eyes but the beginnings of a smile were showing on her face. “Promise?”

Amity nodded, resolute, “I promise.”

Finally that brilliant smile was back on Luz’s face and she threw her arms around Amity, hugging her tight and spinning her around. The two’s laughter rang out through the woods, the atmosphere from before quickly returning. 

“Alright, alright,” Amity’s cheeks were hurting from how hard she was smiling, she wished this moment could last forever but sadly she had to cut it short, “Whenever you want to put me down we should get going- I don’t want my siblings to worry too much that I’m not home yet.”

With a quick pout that Luz couldn’t hold for long without chuckling she placed the shorter witch back on the ground; still smiling that blinding smile of hers. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Amity wondered if Luz could feel her heartbeat through their linked hands, but then again- she wasn’t even sure that Luz was aware of their intertwined fingers.

She wasn’t going to bring it up.

They completed the rest of their walk through the woods laughing and at ease with one another. Luz was telling story after story that Amity couldn’t get enough of and never failed to make her laugh. For being so solitary most of the time Luz got into a lot of mischief. Her last adventure had seen her almost plunging into a lake while chasing a bird.

It was during these stories and those lighthearted moments that Amity noticed something- a small detail that was also somehow hard to miss now that she’d noticed it: Luz’s appearance changed depending on her mood. It was only slight most of the time, but she’d realized it after looking back on Luz’s temporary mood swing. When she’d asked if the witch was mad at her- her flames had become more subdued and the light she gave off lessened with the opposite happening when they’d hugged. 

Even now Amity could see the differences, despite them being much more minor. While Luz told her stories her glow was steady and bright- illuminating the otherwise pitch black forest around them- only to flare the smallest amount upon hearing Amity laugh. It was more than likely subconscious on the spirit’s part.

It was also, Amity realised, independent of her Magic output. After only a handful of lessons Luz had gotten the hang of keeping her output in check, evidently much more clever than any of them had given her credit for, enough for Miss Lilith and the Owl Lady to feel comfortable allowing the two near each other. 

‘Now it’s less like a wildfire and more like an overzealous candle.’ The Owl Lady had commented at the end of one lesson. It was a fairly accurate comparison Amity thought.

Amity in turn had also improved on harnessing the wild magic that Luz gave off, able to use it to boost small spells without any repercussions; however, large scale spells still took a fair toll on the girl. ‘Baby steps,’ Miss Lilith had reminded her, ‘baby steps.’

She was broken from her thoughts by Luz pulling them to a stop at the edge of the treeline. Blight Manor rose imposingly in front of them, all the windows dark save for a certain few. The main foyer had light- no doubt left on by one or both of her siblings for when she returned home- but there were also two windows higher up in the house that were illuminated: Edric and Emira’s rooms.  _ ‘They were both still up?’ _

Luz must have taken her confusion as worry over the dark expanse between themselves and the building because after only a few seconds she was reassuring the witch, “Don’t worry about the dark- I’m right here.” For a heartbeat she hesitated, “...I could walk you to the door? If you want?”

Any response Amity was going to give was cut off by a series of sounds: the first was the creak of the main door being opened, the second was footsteps jogging down the stairs and across the grass, and the third, “Hey Mittens!”

Amity’s eyes widened as she tore her gaze from the person next to her to the two figures closing in. Edric and Emira. She was frozen in place as they got closer, all words dying in her throat.

“What took you so long to come back?” Edric was in front of Emira by a few paces as the two slowed to a walk.

“Did you have a good lesson-” Emira’s words died on her tongue as the twins grew close enough to make out what was in front of them clearly. They both stopped in their tracks.

“Holy crap-”

“What in the world?”

Two voices spoke up at once, both drowning out the other in their confusion.

The four of them stayed stone-still as they gazed at each other, no one willing to move an inch. Amity could feel a wave of panic begin to wash over her- she hadn’t meant for them to meet Luz like this; she hadn’t meant for them to meet Luz at all! Her mind was racing for an explanation as her eyes flew between her siblings’ slack-jawed faces and Luz, but nothing was coming to mind. She was left standing there gaping there like a fish in an ironic mimicry of her brother and sister when someone finally found their voice-

“Uh, hi there,” the hand not holding Amity’s waved awkwardly, “I’m Luz!”

Impossibly, Edric’s eyes got even wider, “Oh my god it can talk.”

This, Amity thought, was a mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That scene with Emira was added in editing and it's my favorite part by far, I just love writing nice siblings. 
> 
> I'm not going to say I'll update this again in a week or two because I'm not sure I'll be able to, but I will say that I'm going to try; I'm going to probably take longer to upload another chapter because I'll be working on creating an actual outline for this while I try to get my updating schedule back on track. Funnily enough I only meant for this to be a oneshot, then I changed my mind and thought 'hey it'll probably be like ten chapters long', then I wanted to be at the half way point by around chapter 12, and now I'm shooting for this to be anywhere from 15-20 chapters.
> 
> Also I started another story that's got two chapters up (it's actually planned out, who knew that would writing so much easier) that I'm excited for. It's been bouncing around in my head for awhile and I needed to write it down, not to mention the other half-dozen story ideas I have that won't go away.
> 
> Anyway enough of me rambling; I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, I hope you all stay safe, and I hope you all have good day!

**Author's Note:**

> So I got the idea for this story after seeing some incredible art by nikuman_02 on Instagram. Like you all should really go check it out, it's breathtaking and this idea has been stuck in my head ever since I saw it.
> 
> Also, literally none of my stories are beta read by anyone other than myself so constructive criticism (or just comments in general) are welcome!


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